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ARE  THE  INDIANS  DYING  OUT? 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS 


RELATING  TO 

INDIAN  CIVILIZATION  AND  EDUCATION. 


The  within  notes  and  correspondence  are  submitted  for  your  examination 
in  the  hope  that  you,  and  others  to  whoso  attention  they  may  be  called,  may 
aid  in  obtaining  and  communicating  further  data  necessary  to  a  correct  con¬ 
clusion  regarding  the  question  of  increase  or  decrease  of  Indian  population 
as  dependent  on  civilization. 

Please  address  :  JOHN  EATON, 

Representative  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior 

at  the  International  Exhibition  of  1876. 


Washington,  November  21,  1877. 


em» P^Mwfev,- 

l us  s’ 

CORRESPONDENCE. 


fj 

X 

The  subject  to  which  the  following  correspou deuce  has  reference  is 
coming  up  in  so  many  forms,  that  this  brief  preliminary  resume  is  put  in 
type  as  a  means  (1)  of  giving  some  of  the  facts  known  at  the  present 
stage  of  the  inquiry,  and  (2)  of  affording  an  opportunity  to  submit  them 
for  the  opinion  and  suggestions  of  numerous  persons  interested  in  the 
subject. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 
Washington ,  November  13,  1877. 

Sir:  I  understand  that  as  representative  of  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  at  the  International  Exhibition  of  1876  you  were  able  to  collect 
much  valuable  information  relative  to  the  Indians,  including  that  of 
their  enumeration  at  various  dates. 

If  you  have  the  data,  I  will  esteem  it  a  favor  if  you  will  furnish  me 
with  such  enumeration  at  the  various  decades  from  1790  to  the  present 
time. 

This  information  is  just  now  needed  for  official  purposes,  and  if  re¬ 
ceived  will  save  the  time  and  trouble  of  my  clerks,  and  thus  aid  in  the 
dispatch  of  public  business. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  A.  HAYT, 

Commissioner. 


Hon.  John  Eaton, 

Commissioner  of  Education , 

Representative  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior 

at  the  International  Exhibition  o/1876. 


\ 


r  % 

V 

\J 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Bureau  of  Education, 
Washington ,  D.  (7.,  November  14,  1877. 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  hereby  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  let¬ 
ter  dated  the  13th  instant,  requesting,  in  order  to  aid  in  the  dispatch  of 
public  business  and  save  your  clerks  the  time  and  trouble  of  repeating 
an  investigation  already  made  elsewhere,  that  you  be  furnished  with 
information  respecting  the  number  of  Indians  “at  the  various  decades 
from  1790  to  the  present  time,”  as  it  appears  in  the  historical  view  of 
Indian  administration  prepared  in  connection  with  the  Centennial  Ex¬ 
hibition. 

In  reply,  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  in  preparing  this  outline  of 
history,  as  required  in  connection  with  the  catalogue  and  description  of 
the  exhibition,  it  was  not  originally  intended  to  consider  especially  the 
question  of  numbers  at  different  dates,  but  points  iu  reference  to  enu- 


6 


ESTIMATE  OF  1834. 


In  1834,  the  number  of  Indians  in  the  United  States,  according  to  an 
estimate  of  General  Cass,  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  War,  was  as 
follows : 


Tribes  with  whom  we  have  treaties,  (30) .  3 56,  310 

Tribes  with  whom  we  have  no  treaties,  (49) .  156,  300 


Total . ' .  312,  610 

This  statement  did  not  include  any  of  the  tribes  north  of  Virginia  and 
east  of  Ohio. 


ESTIMATE  OF  1836. 


In  a  report  of  C.  A.  Harris,  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  to  Hon. 
B.  F.  Butler,  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  War  ad  interim ,  dated 
December  1,  1836,  at  a  time  when  the  question  of  the  removal  of  the 
Indian  tribes  to  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  being  consid¬ 
ered,  is  found  the  following  estimate  of  the  Indian  population  : 


Indians  east  of  the  Mississippi .  57,  433 

Indians  who  have  been  removed .  45,  690 

Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi  (indigenous  tribes)  . .  150,  341 


Total . .. .  253,464 


This  estimate  did  not  include  the  Indians  in  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  nor,  of  course,  those  of 
•  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  California. 

ESTIMATE  OF  1837. 

Schoolcraft,  in  liis  history  of  the  Indian  tribes,  reproduces  an  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  number  of  thb  Indians  in  1837,  made  up,  he  states,  from 
official  reports  to  the  Indian  Office,  which  is  as  follows  : 


Indians  east  of  the  Mississippi . . .  49,  365 

Emigrants .  .51,327 

Indigenous  tribes  west  of  the  Mississippi .  201,  806 


Total . .  302,498 


ENUMERATION  OF  1850. 

In  introducing  the  census  of  1850,  some  general  remarks  are  neces¬ 
sary. 

The  first  section  of  the  Indian  appropriation  law,  approved  June  27, 
1846,  contained  the  following  provision  :  u  And  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  different  agents  and  subagents  to  take  a  census,  and  to  obtain  such 
other  statistical  information  of  the  several  tribes  of  Indians  among 
whom  they  respectively  reside,  as  may  be  required  by  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  in  such  form  as  he  shall  prescribe.” 

This  was  the  first  general  legislation  on  the  subject,  though  the  gov¬ 
ernment  had,  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  in  1789,  maintained  offi¬ 
cial  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes  that  could  not  be  well  understood 
nor  administered  without  definite  information  respecting  their  numbers 
and  condition.  In  1847,  a  partial  census,  embracing  the  Indians  in 
twelve  agencies  and  subagencies,  was  reported.  It  enumerated  about 
35,000  Indians.  The  legislation  of  1846  was  deemed  inadequate  by  those 
most  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  Indians,  and  in  November,  1846,  a 


memorial,  signed  by  numerous  well-known  and  influential  gentlemen, 
was  presented  to  Congress.  To  this  and  other  efforts  may  be  attributed 
the  fifth  section  of  the  act  approved  March  3, 1847,  for  “  a  better  organi¬ 
zation  of  the  Office  of  Indian  Affairs,”  and  to  amend  the  “  trade  and  in¬ 
tercourse  ”  act.  The  section  reads  as  follows  : 

Sec.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted ,  That  in  aid  of  the  means  now  possessed  by  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Indian  Affairs  through  its  existing  organization  there  be,  and  hereby  is, 
appropriated  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  to  enable  the  said  department,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  to  collect  and  digest  such  statistics  and  mate¬ 
rials  as  may  illustrate  the  history,  the  present  condition,  and  future  prospects  of  the 
Indian  tribes  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  transfer  of  the  Indian  Office  to  the  newly  created  Department 
of  the  Interior,  under  the  act  of  March  3,  1849,  the  work  of  collecting 
statistics  was  continued ;  and  under  the  direction  of  Henry  R.  School¬ 
craft,  who  had  been  appointed  for  that  purpose  in  accordance  with  the 
act  of  March  3,  1847,  an  elaborate  census  of  the  Indians,  embracing  one 
hundred  and  seventy-two  different  points  of  inquiry,  was  undertaken,  at 
great  expense,  the  whole  amount,  including  the  expense  of  collecting 
and  digesting  historical  as  well  as  statistical  material,  approaching  the 
sum  of  $130,000. 

The  census  in  detail,  as  projected  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  completed,  or,  if  so,  to  have  been  published.  A  partial 
census,  however,  on  the  elaborate  plan  adopted  will  be  found  in  his 
History  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  published  under  the 
direction  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs.  In  the  first  volume  of 
the  above  work,  page  523,  appears  an  “  ultimate,  consolidated  table”  of 
the  Indian  population  of  the  United  States,  dated  July  22, 1850.  Much 
of  the  material  for  this  table  was  undoubtedly  based  on  estimates  and 
not  on  actual  enumerations.  It  is  impossible  to  give  even  the  date  of 
each  estimate,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  having  contented  himself  with  quoting 
the  “latest  authorities,”  without  generally  giving  names  or  dates.  Thus 
the  Indian  population  of  California  is  given  in  the  table  at  32,231,  on 
the  authority  of  the  Spanish  missionaries,  but  their  enumeration  did  not 
extend  to  Indians  beyond  the  missionary  establishments,  and  the  above 
number  is  made  up  of  about  one-half  mission  Indians  and  one-half  wild 
or  mountain  Indians,  the  latter  number  beiug  apparently  based  on  a 
purely  conjectural  estimate.  Moreover,  the  number  at  two  of  the  mis¬ 
sions  is  given  for  the  year  1802,  forty-eight  years  before  the  date  of  Mr. 
Schoolcraft’s  table. 

The  table  in  brief  is  as  follows : 


Iroquois  group,  complete .  5,  922 

Algonkiu  group,  incomplete . . . . .  17, 197 

Dakota  group,  incomplete . 6,570 

Appalachian  group,  incomplete .  5,015 


Total  of  which  a  detailed  enumeration  has  been  made . , .  34,  704 

Tribes  of  the  new  States  and  Territories  south  and  west,  now  including  Texas 

aud  Mexican  acquisitions .  183,  042 

East  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Mississippi,  in  high  northern  latitudes.  167,  330 
Fragmentary  tribes  in  the  older  States .  3, 153 


Total . • .  388,229 


The  following  note  is  appended  to  the  table  : 

There  may  be,  in  addition  to  these  numbers,  25,000  to  35,000  Indians  within  the  area 
of  the  unexplored  territories  of  the  United  States. 


8 


THE  UNITED  STATES  CENSUS  OF  1850. 

On  page  xciv  of  tlie  report  of  the  United  States  census  for  1850 
appears  a  table  of  Indian  population.  It  includes  a  statement  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  November  10, 1853,  of  the  number 
of  Indians  in  the  United  States  at  that  time.  The  aggregate,  according 
to  this  statement,  was  400,761 ;  but  this  does  not  profess  to  be  accurate, 
for  the  number  of  Indians  in  the  States  of  California  and  Texas,  the 
Territories  of  Oregon,  Washington,  Utah,  and  New  Mexico,  and  those 
belonging  to  the  Blaekfeet,  Sioux,  Kiowa,  Comanche,  Pawnee,  “  and 
other  tribes,”  numbering,  according  to  the  table,  271,930,  are  confess¬ 
edly  “ estimated.”  Thus,  while  Schoolcraft,  in  the  table  dated  July, 
1850,  before  quoted,  reports  the  California  Indians  at  32,231,  this  state¬ 
ment,  three  years  later,  “estimates”  their  number  at  100,000. 

ESTIMATE  OF  1855. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  for  1855,  pp.  575,  576, 
reports  the  number  of  Indians  in  the  United  States,  “made  up  from  the 
best  data  in  the  possession  of  the  Indian  Office,”  at  314,622. 

The  following  note  is  appended  to  this  table  : 

Possibly  some  of  the  tribes  embraced  in  this  statement,  especially  those  inhabiting 
the  mountainous  regions  and  the  plains,  are  not  correctly  reported  ;  their  number  may 
exceed,  or  fall  short  of,  the  estimates  here  made  of  them.  The  Indian  population  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States  territory,  exclusive  of  a  few  in  several  of  the  States, 
who  have  lost  their  tribal  character  or  amalgamated  with  whites  or  blacks,  may  be 
estimated  at  from  320,000  to  350,000. 

ESTIMATE  OF  1857. 

In  volume  YI,  pp.  686,  689,  of  Schoolcraft’s  History  of  the  Indian 
Tribes,  is  presented  a  table  of  the  Indian  population  of  the  United  States, 
deduced  from  the  yearly  reports  of  the  preceding  decade.  The  total, 
according  to  this  table,  is  313,264.  Appended  to  the  table  is  the  follow¬ 
ing  note : 

To  this  result  may  be  added  for  tribes  who  are  not  reported  by  the  agents  who  have 
been  solicited  for  desiderata,  or  who  have  vaguely  reported,  and  for  tribes  who  occupy 
unexplored  parts  of  the  interior  of  Texas,  New  Mexico,  California,  Oregon,  Washington, 
Nebraska,  and  Kansas,  66,000. 

Adding  this  to  the  footing  of  the  table,  we  have  an  aggregateof379,264. 
But  it  is  still  to  be  remembered  that  these  figures  are  largely  based  on 
conjectures  and  estimates. 

ENUMERATION  OF  1860. 

In  the  report  for  the  year  1861,  the  Indian  Office  published  the  first 
tabular  “statement  indicating  the  schools,  population,  and  wealth  of  the 
different  Indian  tribes  which  are  in  direct  connection  with  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  the  United  States. 

A  similar  report  has  been  published  each  year  since,  and  these  reports 
have  yearly  increased  in  completeness  and  value,  especially  since  1870. 

The  report  for  tho  year  1861  may  be  taken  as  representing  substan¬ 
tially  the  year  1860.  The  numbers  of  Indians  belonging  to  tribes  from 
which  the  outbreak  of  civil  war  prevented  any  report  for  1861  are  given 
as  reported  the  preceding  year. 

The  total  number  of  Indians,  according  to  this  report,  was  249,965. 
According  to  the  report  of  the  United  States  census  for  1860,  there  were 
44,020  “civilized  Indians”  in  the  United  States.  Deducting  from  this 
number  39,685,  apparently  included  in  the  statement  of  the  Indian  Office, 
there  remain  4,335  to  be  added  to  249,965,  making  an  aggregate  of 
254,300. 


9 


ENUMERATION  OF  1865. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  for  the  year  1865 
states  the  population  of  the  Indian  tribes  within  the  United  States  at 
294,574.  The  report  for  the  next  year,  when  the  disturbances  of  the  war 
had  ceased,  showed  295,774 ;  a  slight  increase. 

ENUMERATION  OF  1870. 

The  first  attempt  to  embrace  a  general  enumeration  of  the  Indian 
population  in  the  United  States  census  was  made  by  Gen.  F.  A.  Walker, 
superintendent  of  the  ninth  census.  On  page  xvTi  of  the  volume  on 
Population  and  Social  Statistics  will  be  found  the  excellent  reasons 
given  by  General  Walker  for  making  this  attempt.  In  the  same  place 
he  says : 

With  a  view,  therefore,  to  reaching  the  true  population  of  the  couutry  as  nearly  as 
is  practicable  in  the  absence  of  distinct  authority  for  the  appointment  of  assistant  mar¬ 
shals  to  enumerate  the  several  tribes  and  bands  of  Indians,  inquiries  were  conducted 
extensively  through  the  agents  of  the  Indian  Office  during  the  year  1870,  the  result  of 
which,  it  is  believed,  has  been  to  secure  a  closer  approximation  to  the  true  numbers  of 
this  class  of  the  population  than  has  ever  before  been  effected. 

A  detailed  statement  of  the  result,  by  States  and  Territories,  includ¬ 
ing  Alaska,  will  be  found  on  page  xvii  of  the  volume  before  quoted.  In 
brief,  it  is  as  follows: 


Sustaining  tribal  relations  (enumerated) .  96,  366 

Sustaining  tribal  relations  (estimated) . . .  26,875 

Sustaining  tribal  relations,  nomadic  (estimated) .  234,740 

Out  of  tribal  relations  (enumerated^ .  25,  731 


Total .  383, 712 


It  will  be  seen  at  once  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  made,  these 
results  are  far  from  being  satisfactory,  and  that  they  must  be  accepted 
with  the  greatest  caution. 

Of  these  numbers  261,615,  or  more  than  68  per  cent.,  are  based  on 
u estimates,”  with  all  their  imperfections  and  uncertainties.  Included  in 
the  estimated  population  are  70,090*  Alaska  Indians,  occupying  a  terri¬ 
tory  never  thoroughly  explored.  Deducting  this  number,  which  is  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  only  conjectural,  we  have  313,712  as  the  total 
Indian  population  (exclusive  of  Alaska  Indians)  in  1870. 

The  report  of  Indian  affairs  for  the  same  year  gives  the  total  number 
of  Indians,  excluding  the  Indians  of  Alaska,  at  287,640.  Adding  to  this 
25,721  Indians  “  out  of  tribal  relations,7’  reported  in  the  census,  we  have 
313,371;  a  substantial  agreement  with  the  returns  of  the  United  States 
census. 

ENUMERATIONS  OF  1875  AND  1876. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  for  1875  contains  a 
list  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  their  numerical  strength.  The  total  is 
279,337. 

The  report  for  1876  shows  but  266,151;  but  this  apparent  decrease  of 
13,186  is  easily  accounted  for  by  reference  to  the  enumeration  of  the 
Dakotas;  a  part  of  these  tribes  being  engaged  in  hostilities  against  the 
United  States,  and  consequently  not  included  in  the  census. 

In  comparing  the  last  two  enumerations  with  the  census  returns  of 
1870,  25,731  should  be  added  for  Indians  “  out  of  tribal  relations”;  thus 
increasing  the  number  in  1875  to  305,068,  and  in  1876  to  291,882. 

*  Excessive. 


* 


\ 


10 


RECAPITULATION. 

For  convenience  of  reference  the  following  summary  is  presented, 
but  it  should  not  be  considered  apart  from  the  remarks  which  accom¬ 
pany  each  separate  period  : 


1.  1789. — Estimate  of  the  Secretary  of  War .  76,000 

2.  1790-91. — Estimate  of  Gilbert  Imlay .  60,  000 

3.  1820. — Report  of  Morse  on  Indian  Alfairs .  471,036 

4.  1825. — Report  of  Secretary  of  War .  129,366 

5.  1829. — Report  of  Secretary  of  War .  312,930 

6.  1834. — Report  of  Secretary  of  War .  312,610 

7.  1836. — Report  of  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs .  253,464 

8.  1837. — Report  of  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs .  302,  498 

9.  1850. — Report  of  H.  R.  Schoolcraft .  388,  229 

10.  1853. — Report  of  United  States  census,  1850 .  400,764 

11.  1855. — Report  of  Indian  Office . . .  314,622 

12.  1857. — Report  of  H.  R.  Schoolcraft .  379, 264 

13.  1860. — Report  of  Indian  Office .  254,300 

14.  1865. — Report  of  Indian  Office .  294,574 

15.  1870. — Report  of  United  States  census .  313,712 

16.  1870. — Report  of  Indian  Office . .  313,  371 

17.  1875. — Report  of  Indian  Office .  305,068 

18.  1876. — Report  of  Indian  Office .  291,882 

Jf,  x  X 

W  TV*  W  Tv  vr  W 


Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  EATON, 

Representative  Department  Interior  at  the  International  Exhibition 

Hon.  E.  A.  H-AYT, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs. 


MEMOEANDA. 

IMPORTANCE  OE  THE  INQUIRY. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  Indian  civilization  depends  greatly  on 
the  conclusions  reached  respecting  Indian  population.  If,  as  is  gener¬ 
ally  believed,  the  Indians  are  a  vanishing  race,  doomed  to  disappear  at  a 
not  remote  period,  because  of  their  contact  with  civilization,  or  for  any 
other  reason,  then  the  efforts  in  behalf  of  their  civilization  will  assume, 
iu  most  minds,  a  sentimental  aspect,  and  will  hardly  be  considered  in 
their  true  relation  as  regards  their  practical  importance.  But,  on  the 
contrary,  if  it  is  shown  to  be  true  that  the  Indians,  instead  of  being 
doomed  by  circumstances  to  extinction  within  a  limited  period,  are,  as 
a  rule,  not  decreasing  in  numbers,  and  are,  in  all  probability,  destined 
to  form  a  permanent  factor,  an  enduring  element  of  our  population,  the 
necessity  of  their  civilization  will  be  at  once  recognized,  and  all  efforts 
in  that  direction  will  be  treated  as  their  importance  demands. 

REMARKS  ON  ESTIMATES  OF  INDIAN  POPULATION. 

"Reference  has  been  made  in  the  introduction  to  the  preceding  state¬ 
ment  of  Indian  population  at  different  periods  since  1790  to  a  fact  not 
generally  recognized,  that  estimates  of  such  population  almost  invariably 
exceed  the  true  number.  This  is  due  to  a  variety  of  causes,  several  of 
which  may  be  mentioned: 

1.  The  estimates  of  the  Spanish  adventurers,  whose  explorations  were 
more  extensive  than  those  of  any  other  nation  in  the  sixteenth  century, 


♦ 


11 


were  accepted  and  seldom  questioned  for  a  long  period  ;  some  of  them 
are  still  accepted.  The  Spanish  estimates  were  largely  based  on  their 
previous  experience  in  the  more  densly  populated  countries  of  Mexico 
and  Peru ;  besides,  they  warred  with  the  natives,  and  it  has  never  been 
a  Spanish  trait  to  underrate  the  numerical  strength  of  an  enemy. 

2.  The  first  French  explorers  were  largely  composed  of  ecclesiastics 
whose  imaginations  were  kindled  by  a  contemplation  of  the  heathen 
multitudes  they  were  to  win  to  the  cross.  The  extravagance  of  many 
of  their  estimates  has  been  shown,  and  yet  they  are  to  a  considerable 
extent  accepted  to-day. 

3.  The  early  English  colonists  formed  permanent  settlements.  Their 
little  towns  were  naturally  seated  on  water-courses  which  were  the  great 
highways  of  Indian  travel,  and  at  points  on  the  coast  to  which  the  In¬ 
dians  had  long  resorted.  They  thus  came  in  coutact  with  a  very  large 
proportion,  relatively,  of  the  Indian  population.  They  were  also  en¬ 
gaged  in  hostilities  with  the  Indians,  and  were  naturally  misled  as  to 
the  number  of  their  foes  by  the  ubiquity  of  the  savages  whose  mode  of 
warfare  enabled  them  to  strike  a  hamlet  here  to-day  and  another  fifty 
miles  away  to-morrow. 

4.  There  were  other  reasons  more  general  why  estimates  were  exag¬ 
gerated  : 

Trade  brought  to  the  points  of  exchange  large  numbers  of  Indians 
from  great  distances. 

The  Indians  naturally,  for  purposes  of  their  own,  magnified  their  own 
numbers  and  importance. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  country  compared  with  the  more  limited  areas 
to  which  the  English,  French,  and  Spaniards  were  accustomed,  and 
which  were  densely  populated,  led  them  to  greatly  magnify  the  actual 
population  of  the  new  world. 

A  few  instances  of  the  discrepancies  between  different  estimates  may 
be  mentioned,  as  they  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  subject. 

The  Cherokees. 

Adair,  who  lived  forty  years  among  the  Southern  Indians,  estimated 
the  number  of  Cherokees  in  1722  at  6,000  warriors, or  30,00.0  souls  and 
forty  years  later  at  2,300  warriors,  or  11,500  souls.  Another  authority t 
estimates  the  same  tribe  in  1774  at  3,000  gun  men,  or  15,000  souls. 
Drake,  the  Indian  historian,  evidently  following  Adair,  estimates  the 
number  of  Cherokee  warriors  in  1721  at  6,000,  or  30,000  souls;  and  states 
that,  in  1738,  the  small  pox  having  been  introduced  among  them  by  the 
slave-dealers,  one-half  the  population  was  swept  away  by  it.f  In  his 
Notes  on  Virginia,  Mr.  Jefferson  estimates  the  number  of  Cherokee  war¬ 
riors  in  1768  at  3,000,  or  15,000  souls  ;§  another  author  ||  estimated  them, 
in  a  work  written  in  1790-91,  at  2,500  warriors,  or  12,500  souls,  an  esti¬ 
mate  probably  based  on  the  authority  of  Dodge,  1779.  In  1809,  accord¬ 
ing  to  an  .actual  enumeration  made  by  the  United  States  agent,  there 
were  in  the  Cherokee  country  12,395  Cherokees,  about  one-half  of  whom 
were  mixed  bloods,  583  negro  slaves,  and  341  white  persons.fi  Drake, 

*  History  of  the  American  Indians,  by  Janies  Adair.  Loudon,  1775,  pp.  227,  257.  It 
is  generally  assumed  in  estimating  Indian  population  that  tlie  whole  number  is  five 
times  the  number  of  warriors. 

t  Stevens.  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  2,  p.  93. 

|  Chronicles  of  the  Indians.  Boston,  1836,  p.  179. 

$  Notes  on  Virginia.  Trenton,  1803,  p.  142. 

||  Irnlay.  Topographical  Descriptions,  &c.  London  ,  1797,  p.  290. 

Morse.  Report  on  Indian  Affairs.  New  Haven,  1822,  appendix,  p.  152. 


12 


above  quoted,  in  another  work,  written  during  the  Florida  war  (1835-’42), 
says  of  the  Cherokees:  “In  1819  there  were  about  1(),000  inhabitants, 
and  in  1825  they  had  increased  to  13,508,  all  natives  ;* * * §  while  Gallatin, 
writing  about  the  same  time  (1830),  estimates  their  number,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Indian  Department,  at  about  15,000. f  The  number  of 
like  estimates  of  the  Cherokee  population  might  be  increased  indefi¬ 
nitely,  but  enough  has  been  quoted  to  serve  the  present  purpose. 

A  study  of  these  several  estimates  reveals  discrepancies  that  it  seems 
impossible  to  reconcile;  but  it  is  true  that  year  by  year  more  exact  in¬ 
formation  regarding  the  real  numbers  of  the  Cherokees  is  being  obtained ; 
and,  taking  the  enumeration  of  1809  as  a  starting  point,  it  is  likewise 
true  that  notwithstanding  the  depressing  influences  of  removal, |  and 
the  destruction  of  life  attending  the  civil  war  which  swept  over  their  ter¬ 
ritory,  the  Cherokees  have  substantially  increased  in  numbers.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  the  report  of  the  Indian  Office  for  1870  they  numbered — 


In  the  Indian  Territory . , .  18,672 

In  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  Tennessee .  2,400 

Total . .  21,072 

r 

Hie  Seminoles. 


Several  estimates  of  the  numbers  of  the  Seminoles  will  be  interesting. 

In  July,  1821,  according  to  the  observations  of  Mr.  Peniere,  communi¬ 
cated  to  General  Jackson, §  they  numbered  4,500;  in  1822  another  au¬ 
thority  estimated  the  number  of  “  Seminoles  and  other  remnants  of  tribes 
in  Florida at  5,000. ||  Captain  Young’s  MS.  journal  (date  not  given)  notes 
their  geographical  distribution  and  places  the  entire  number  at  0,385.^] 
According  to  another  estimate**  of  1822  they  numbered  1,594  men,  1,357 
women,  and  993  children,  making  in  all  3,899.  Besides  these  there  were 
800  negro  slaves,  150  men  and  050  women  and  children,  making  an 
aggregate  of  4,699.  Admitting  that  all  the  men  were  capable  of  bear¬ 
ing  arms,  and  including  the  negro  slaves,  who,  in  the  succeeding  war, 
generally  fought  on  the  side  of  their  Indian  masters,  it  is  found  that  the 
military  strength  of  the  Seminoles  composed  more  than  36  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  population,  instead  of  20  per  cent,  as  usually  estimated — a  fact 

*  Book  of  the  Indians.  Tenth  edition.  Boston,  1848.  Book  IV,  p.  97. 

t  Synopsis  of  the  Indian  Tribes.  Archceologia  Amerioana,  vol.  2,  p.  91.  The  same 
author,  on  page  135  of  the  same  volume,  estimates  the  entire  Indian  population  of  North 
America  at  345,000  ;  of  whom  he  assigns  60,000  to  tribes  north  of  the  present  boundary 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  Pacific  coast ;  20,000  Algonkin-Lenape  and  1,000  Iroquois 
to  the  British  Dominions;  leaving,  in  the  United  States,  264,000. 

f  Enforced  expatriation  has  probably  done  more  to  retard  the  increase  of  Indian  pop¬ 
ulation  than  war,  pestilence,  or  famine;  perhaps  more  than  all  combined.  The  history 
of  the  Cherokee  removal  in  1838  is  a  case  in  point.  They  were  accompanied  on  their 
journey  by  the  devoted  missionaries  who  had  long  labored  among  them.  On  page  14, 
volume  36,  of  the  Missionary  Herald,  will  be  found  a  brief  account  of  this  journey.  It 
contains  the  following  :  “  From  the  time  they  were  gathered  into  camps  by  the  United 
States  troops  in  May  and  June,  1838,  till  the  time  the  last  detachment  reached  the  Ar¬ 
kansas  couutry,  which  was  about  ten  months,  a  careful  estimate  shows  that  not  less 
than  4,000  or  4,500  were  removed  by  death,  being  on  an  average  from  thirteen  to  fif¬ 
teen  deaths  in  a  day,  for  the  whole  period,  out  of  a  population  of  16,000,  or  one-fourth 
of  the  whole  number.  It  does  not  appear  that  this  mortality  was  owing  to  neglect 
or  bad  treatment  while  on  the  journey.  It  was  probably  necessarily  involved  in  the 
measure  itseif,  however  carefully  the  arrangements  might  have  been  made,  or  however 
faithfully  executed.” 

§  Morse.  Report  on  Indian  Affairs,  appendix,  pp.  310,  311. 

||  Ibid.,  appendix,  p.  364.  . 

II  Ibid.,  Joe.  cit. 

**  Sprague.  The  Florida  War  New  York,  1848,  p.  19.  This  was  e  vidently  from  actual 
enumeration. 


13 


that  should  not  be  forgotten  in  considering  the  estimates  of  the  Presi¬ 
dent  and  the  Secretary  of  War  in  1835,  given  below. 

General  Porter,  Secretary  of  War,  estimates  the  number  of  Seminoles 
in  1829  at  4,000,  and  this  number  was  repeated  in  a  report  of  General 
Cass,  Secretary  of  War,  to  the  President,  under  the  date  of  February  16, 
1832. 


On  the  eve  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  the  Seminoles  in  1835, 
President  Jackson  estimated  their  military  strength  at  400  warriors, 
indicating  a  total  population  on  the  above  basis  of  1,111;  at  the  same 
time  General  Gass,  then  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  War,  estimated 
their  number  at  750  warriors,  or,  on  the  same  basis,  2,083  in  all.* * * § 

These  estimates  indicate  a  remarkable  decrease  compared  with  all 
preceding  estimates  ;  but  they  must  have  been  based  on  the  best  official 
information  attainable  at  the  time;  probably  on  that  furnished  by  Lieut. 
C.  A.  Harris,  disbursing  agent,  charged  with  the  duty  of  providing  sup¬ 
plies  and  transportation  for  the  emigrating  Indians,  who  was  at  Fort 
King,  Florida,  in  the  summer  of  1835,  actively  engaged  in  that  duty. 


After  consulting  with.  General  Thompson  (the  Indian  agent)  upon  tli  <  necessary 
means,  and  both  having  made  diligent  inquiry,  aided  by  the  intimate  knowledge  of 
officers  of  the  Army  at  the  post,  he  reported  to  the  War  Department  that  the  entire 
nation,  including  negroes,  did  not  exceed  3,000  souls.  Of  this  number,  he  estimated 
that  1,600  were  females';  and  that  the  various  bands,  comprising  the  Flo  ida  Indians, 
could  bring  into  the  field  450  or  500  efficient  warriors.! 


Another  authority!  'States  that  the  number  was  variously  estimated 
at  3,000  to  5,000.  .“I  am  of  the  opinion  they  will  be  found  to  have  ex¬ 

ceeded  3,700  when  the  war  commenced.”  The  same  author  estimated 
the  military  strength  of  the  Indians,  including  negroes,  at  between 
1,700  and  1,900  warriors. 

Sprague  says:§  “The  number  of  warriors  in  the  field  at  this  time 
(January  1,  1836),  as  has  been  subsequently  ascertaiued,  was  1,060,  to 
which  may  be  added  250  negroes  capable  of  bearing  arms.”  General 
Scott,  then  commanding  in  Florida,  in  a  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
dated  April  30,  1<S36,  said:  “I  am  more  than  ever  persuaded  that  the 
whole  force  of  the  enemy,  including  negroes,  does  not  exceed  1,200 
fighting  men.  It  is  probably  something  less.”||  In. the  official  reports 
of  the  Indian  Office  for  1837,  the  number  of  Florida  Indians  was  given 
among  those  east  of  the  Mississippi,  “  under  treaty  stipulations  to  re¬ 
move,”  at  5,000.^] 

Respecting  the  accessions  of  the  Indian  force  from  the  Creeks — and  it 
is  probable  that  considerable  numbers  joined  them — and  perhaps  from 
some  negro  slaves  who  ran  away  from  their  white  masters,  nothing  defi¬ 
nite  can  ever  be  kuown.  Probably  they  were  not  very  great.  The  Indians 
received  re-enforcements  from  no  other  source,  nuless  we  count  the 
Spanish  Indians  of  the  extreme  southern  part  of  Florida,  who  engaged 
in  the  war  in  1839,  and  who  may  not  have  been  included  in  the  first 
estimate.*  * 


*  Remarks  of  Mr.  Horace  Everett,  of  Vermont,  on  the  motion  to  add  to  the  Army  bill 
an  appropriation  of  $300,000  for  the  suppression  of  Indian  hostilities,  House  of  Repre¬ 
sentatives,  July  14,  1840.  Mr.  Everett  used  the  following  language:  “1  have  means 
of  being  assured,  by  the  best  authority,  that  the  President  rated  the  Seminole  warriors 
at  not  exceeding  400.  The  then  Secretary  of  War  rated  them  at  750.” — (North  Ameri¬ 
can  Review,  vol.  54,  p.  6;  National  Intelligencer,  March  1,  1841.) 

t  Sprague.  Florida  War,  p.  87. 

X  The  War  in  Florida,  &c.,  by  a  late  Staff  Officer,  [W.  Potter.]  Baltimore,  1836,  p.  8. 

§  Florida  War,  p.  97. 

||  Ibid.,  p.  131. 

II  Schoolcraft’s  Historv  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  vol.  3,  p.  6L0. 

*  *Sprague’s  Florida  War,  p.  99.  They  numbered  about  100  warriors. 


14 


Tlie  vicissitudes  through  which  the  Semiuole  population  passed  in 
the  next  seven  years  of  a  destructive  war,  during  which  they  contended 
against  the  whole  available  regular  Army  of  the  United  States,  aided  by 
a  portion  of  the  Navy,  and  a  militia  and  volunteer  force  of  more  than 
20,000  men  from  first  to  last,* * * §  can  never  be  known  ;  the  Indians  always 
concealing  their  losses  as  far  as  possible,  and  their  adversaries  usually 
overestimating  the  number  of  Indians  slain,  t  Our  own  losses  in  action 
by  wounds  and  disease  during  the  Seminole  war  are  partially  known. 
From  August,  1835,  to  1842,  they  were  as  follows : 


United  States  Regular  Army,  officers  aud  enlisted  men  .  1,  466 

United  States  Navy,  officers,  seamen,  and  marines . .  40 

United  States  Marine  Corps,  officers  and  enlisted  men .  49 


Aggregate  \ . .  1, 555 


This  official  report  does  not  include  the  losses  of  the  volunteers  and 
militia,  which  in  all  probability  exceeded  the  above  number.  Our  own 
losses,  then,  were  over  3,000;  more  than  seven  times  the  whole  number 
of  Semiuole  warriors  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  according  to  the  esti¬ 
mate  of  President  Jackson. 

In  July,  1S50,  after  a  lapse  of  fifteen  years  from  the  first  attempt  to 
remove  them,  the  expatriation  of  the  Florida  Indians  was  practically 
complete,  though  a  remnant  of  from  300  to  500  remained  in  their  former 
homes. 

In  Schoolcraft’s  u  ultimate  and  consolidated  table”  the  Seminoles  are 
put  down  at  1,500 ;§  in  1853  they  were  stated  to  number  3,000,  2,500  in 
the  Indian  Territory  and  500  iu  Florida  ;||  in  1860  they  were  reported  at 
2,267;^  in  1865  the  number  in  the  Indian  Territory  was  reported  at  2,000;** 
in  1870  a  slight  increase  was  shown,  the  number  reported  in  the  Indian 
Territory  beiug  2,136,  ft  to  which  should  be  added  502  in  Florida,  from 
the  United  States  census  report,  making  2,638.  In  1875,  according  to 
the  report  of  the  Indian  Office,  the  number  had  increased  to  2,890,  2,438 
in  the  Indian  Territory  and  452  in  Florida.  In  1876  the  number  in  the 
Indian  Territory  had  increased  to  2,553  from  2,438  in  1875. 

Alaska  Indians. 

In  the  preceding  statement  respecting  the  Indian  population  of  the 
United  States  from  1790  to  1876,  the  estimate  of  the  number  of  Indians 
(70,000)  in  Alaska  in  1870  by  General  F.  A.  Walker,  Superintendent  of 
the  Ninth  Census,  is  included,  with  the  remark  that  it  is  excessive.  A 
similar  extravagant  estimate  (65,099)  will  be  found  in  Johnson’s  Cyclo- 

*Sprague’s  Florida  War,  pp.  101,  10  2. 

t  General  Thomas  S.  Jesup,  who  commanded  onr  forces  in  Florida  from  December, 
1836,  to  May  15,  1333,  in  his  official  report  dated  July  6,  1333,  gives  the  number  of  In¬ 
dians  and  negroes  captured  and  who  surrendered  from  September  4,  1837,  to  May  15, 
1833,  at  1,978,  of  whom  23  escaped,  leaving  1,955  ;  and  estimated  the  number  of  Indians 
killed  at  36.  “Of  this  number  killed  and  taken,  the  number  of  warriors,  or  those  ca¬ 
pable  of  bearing  arms,  exceeded  600.”  He  reports  the  number  of  Iudiaus  and  negroes 
killed  and  captured  from  December,  1836,  to  September  4,  1837,  at  “  equal  to  about  400, 
over  a  hundred  of  whom  were  warriors.”  He  continues  :  “  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
during  the  whole  period  of  my  command  in  Florida,  the  Indians  aud  negroes  taken, 
with  those  who  voluntarily  surrendered,  amounted  to  near  2,400,  over  700  of  whom 
were  warriors.” 

t  Sprague’s  Florida  War,  pp.  526-550,  where  all  the  names  are  given. 

§  History  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  vol.  1,  p.  524. 

||  Report  United  States  Census,  1850,  p.  xciv. 

Report  Indian  Affairs,  1861,  p.  215. 

**  Report  Indian  Affairs,  1865,  p.  589. 

ft  Report  Indian  Affairs,  1870,  p.  334. 


15 


pedia.*  The  latter  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  looseness  with 
which  such  statements  are  often  made.  Among  the  authorities  quoted 
is  W.  H.  Dali.  It  is  p>roper  to  quote  Lieutenant  DalPs  own  estimate  of 
the  Indian  population  of  Alaska  in  connection  with  this  estimate  of 
65,000  in  the  cyclopedia.  He  says  :f  “The  information  contained  in 
this  article  forms  a  summary  of  investigations  which  I  have  [pursued 
since  1865,  while  engaged  in  duties  which  took  me,  at  one  time  or 
(  another,  to  nearly  the  whole  of  the  coast  herein  mentioned,  and  over  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  interior.” 

After  describing  the  habits  and  noting  the  geographical  distribution 
of  the  several  tribes  he  sums  up  the  population,  as  follows 


Total  Alaska  Indians . . .  11, 650 

Total  Alaska  Orarians  (coast  Indians) .  14, 054 

-  25,704 

Add  Russians .  50 

Add  half-breeds  or  Creoles .  1,  500 

Add  citizens  (including  100  military) .  250 

- 1,800 


Total  population  of  the  Territory  § .  27, 504 


Lieutenant  Dali  adds:  “This  estimate  is  p>robably  over  rather  than 
under  the  real  number,  except  for  white  citizens,  whose  number  fluc¬ 
tuates,  and  who,  during  the  mining  season,  may  number  as  many  as 
fifteen  hundred.” 

Lieutenant  DalPs  estimate  in  1870  agree  s  substantially  with  the  above 
being  as  follows :  |j 


Russians  and  Siberians .  483 

Creoles  or  half-breeds .  1,421 

Native  tribes .  26,  843 

Americans  (not  troops) .  150 

Foreigners  (not  Russians) .  200 


Total .  29,097 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  later  and  x>robably  more  accurate  estimate  is 
slightly  lower  thau  the  first. 

In  the  refiort  of  Mr.  Henry  W.  Elliott,  agent  of  the  United  States 
Treasury  Defiartment,  will  be  found  considerable  information  respecting 
the  native  population.  He  divides  it  into  two  classes:  first,  the  Christian 
Aleuts  j  and,  second,  all  other  Indians.  Of  the  first  he  says: 


The  Aleuts,  as  they  appear  to-day,  have  been  so  mixed  with  Russian,  Koloshian,  and 
Kamschadale  blood,  &c.,  that  they  present  characteristics  in  one  way  or  another  of  the 
various  races  of  men  from  the  negro  up  to  the  Caucasian.  *  *  *  The  number  of 

these  people  *  *  *  is  about  5,000,  but  when  first  discovered  by  the  Russians  they 

were  four  or  five  times  as  many.  In  1834  they  numbered  only  about  4,000,  Ivodiaks 
included,  and,  therefore,  they  have  not  diminished  nor  increased  to  any  noteworthy 
degree  during  the  last  forty  years.  There  has  been  a  slight  increase,  if  any,  up  to  the 
present  time. 


) 


Of  the  second  class,  he  says: 

The  number  of  Indians  now  living  in  the  Territory  is,  according  to  best  authority 
and  my  judgment,  between  eighteen  and  twenty  thousand.  Of  this  number  between 
ten  and  twelve  thousand  belong  to  that  district  bounded  on  the  north  by  Cook’s  Inlet, 


*  Johnson’s  New  Universal  Cyclopedia.  New  York,  1876.  Article  on  (t  Alaska.” 
t  Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest,  by  W.  H.  Dali.  Washington,  1876,  p.  7. 

+  Ibid.,  p.  40. 

$  This  table  slightly  modified,  will  also  he  found  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Indian  Affairs  for  1875,  pp.  203,  204. 

||  Alaska  and  its  Resources,  by  W.  H.  Dali.  Boston,  1870,  n.  537. 

If  Report  on  Alaska.  Washington,  1874,  pp.  21,  22. 


16 


and  south  by  Fort  Simpson  ;  the  remainder  inhabit  that  stretch  of  country  reaching 
Lorn  Bristol  Bay  to  Kotzebue  Sound,  and  back  into  the  far  interior,  whore  there  are 
several  tribes,  supposed  to  be  quite  numerous,  about  which  very  little  is  known,  even 
by  the  traders.* 

Thus,  according  to  Mr.  Elliott,  the  total  native  population  of  Alaska 
in  1874  was  23,000  to  25,000,  a  substantial  agreement  with  the  estimates 
of  Lieutenant  I)all,  in  1870,  1875,  and  187G. 

Taking  the  reports  of  Dali  and  Elliott  (and  they  are  undoubtedly  the 
most  trustworthy)  as  a  basis,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  any  estimate 
which  assigns  to  Alaska  an  Indian  population  exceeding  25,000  is  ex¬ 
cessive.  It  is  highly  probable  that  an  actual  enumeration  will  reduce 
these  figures  as  low  as  20,000,  perhaps  still  lower;  and  when  that  is 
done  it  is  to  be  hoped,  but  hardly  to  be  expected  in  the  light  of  past 
experience,  that  nobody  will  gravely  point  to  the  forty  or  fifty  thousand 
difference  between  the  census  estimates  of  1870  and  the  numbers  ascer¬ 
tained  by  actual  enumeration,  and  inform  us  that  the  Indians  of  Alaska 
are  rapidly  dying  out,  and  will  in  a  few  years  become  extinct. 

California  Indians. 

The  relation  of  food-supply  to  savage  population  is  intimate,  but  some 
writers  on  the  subject  seem  to  have  confounded  cause  and  effect  iu  a 
wonderful  manner.  While  it  is  indubitably  true  that  a  large  savage 
population  cannot  exist  where  there  is  not  an  abundant  natural  supply 
of  food,  as  fish,  fruit,  or  wild  grain,  the  converse,  that  where  there  is  an 
abundant  supply  of  such  means  of  subsistence  there  must  necessarily 
be  a  large  number  of  savages  to  consume  it,  is  not  true. 

An  estimate  of  the  number  of  Indians  in  California  before  the  ad  cent 
of  the  whites  was,  however,  made  up  on  the  latter  basis.  It  is  well 
known  that  those  Indians  subsisted  mainly  on  fish,  nuts,  aud  native 
fruits,  until  the  Spaniards  began  their  missious  among  them  about  a 
liuudred  years  ago,  and  many  of  them  long  after.  The  estimate  referred 
to  proceeds  to  figure  up  their  number  about  as  follows : 

In  1870  tlie  Indian  population  of  one  valley,  40  miles  long,  was  67-|  to  the  square 
mile.  Before  the  whites  came  there  were  doubtless  100.  Let  us  suppose  that  there 
were  6,000  miles  of  streams  in  the  State  yielding  salmon  ;  that  would  give  a  popula¬ 
tion  of  405,000.  The  idea  that  wild  oats  furnished  a  very  large  part  of  the  subsistence 
is  probably  erroneous  ;  but  in  all  oak  forests,  acorns  yielded  at  least  four-sevenths  of 
their  subsistence,  and  fish  two-sevenths.  On  the  treeless  plains  the  proportion  of  fish 
was  considerably  larger,  and  various  seeds  contributed,  say,  one-seventh.  There  are  far 
more  acorns  in  the  Sierra  and  the  Coast  range  than  on  the  river  in  the  valley  before 
mentioned,  and  all  the  interior  rivers  yielded  salmon  almost  as  abundantly  as  that 
river  In  consideration  of  the  greater  fertility  of  Central  and  Southern  California, 
there  might  be  added  to  the  above  figures  (405,000)  300,000  ;  this  would  give  705,000 
I  ndians  in  the  State. 

So  easy  is  it  to  populate  unexplored  countries.  The  estimate  con¬ 
tinues: 

Let  us  take  certain  limited  areas.  The  pioneers  estimate  the  original  population  of 
Round  Valley  when  they  first  visited  it  all  the  way  from  5,000  to  20,000.  One  thou¬ 
sand  white  people  in  it  would  be  considered  a  very  fair  population,  if,  indeed,  not 
crowded.  Mr.  — t - estimates  that  there  were  from  300  to  500  Indians  in  Coyote  Val¬ 

ley,  near  Ukiah;  now  there  are  eight  white  families  there,  and  they  think  they  have 
none  too  much  elbow-room.  General  B.  states  that  in  1849  there  were  at  least  1,000 
souls  in  the  village  of  Karusi  (Colusa).  A  Mr.  R.  pointed  out  the  site  of  a  village  on 
Van  Dusen’s  Fork,  which  he  thought  contained  1,000  people  in  1850.  Several  other 
instances  might  be  adduced  if  necessary. 

Now,  while  it  is  granted  that  705,000  Indians  in  a  savage  state  could 
hardly  subsist  anywhere  without  large  supplies  of  fish  and  nuts,  or 


*  Report  on  Alaska.  Washington,  1874,  p.  28. 


17 


other  natural  means  of  subsistence,  it  is  certain  that  the  sturdy  oaks 
on  the  hills  and  mountain  sides  of  California  might  have  regularly 
borne  bountiful  crops  of  acorns  from  year  to  year  for  centuries,  and  the 
salmon  of  her  teeming  rivers  gone  on  increasing  and  multiplying  for 
countless  ages  without  suffering  ahy  inconvenience,  if  there  had  not 
been  a  single  red  man  in  all  that  broad  territory. 

The  theory  hinted  at  in  the  above  estimate,  that  a  given  area  will  sup- 
,  *  port  a  greater  savage  than  civilized  population,  is  surely  novel  if  not 
startling. 

The  Spaniards  were  the  first  Europeans  who  occupied  California,  and 
obtained  any  general  idea  of  the  numbers  of  the  Indians.  The  number 
of  Indians  at  their  missions  was  20,000  to  25,000,  and  they  estimated 
the  wild  or  mountain  Indians  at  a  somewhat  less  number,  making  about 
40,000  altogether ;  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  always  that  whatever 
might  have  been  the  failings  of  the  Spanish  missionaries  and  explorers, 
underestimating  the  native  population  of  their  New  World  possessions 
was  not  one  of  them. 

Schoolcraft,  in  a  table  elsewhere  referred  to,  under  the  date  1850  gives 
the  number  of  Indians  in  California  at  32,231  ;  another  estimate,  purely 
conjectural,  also  quoted,  assigns  to  California  an  Indian  population  of 
100,000  in  1853. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  numbers  thus  estimated  included 
not  only  those  Indians  comprised  in  the  present  State  of  California,  but 
also  many  inhabiting  the  territory  now  embraced  within  the  limits  of 
Arizona,  Nevada,  and,  Utah,  and,  it  is  believed,  some  in  Oregon. 

According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1870,  the  total  Indian  pop¬ 
ulation  of  California  was  29,029,  of  which  13,025  were  enumerated,  and 
16,000  estimated.  According  to  the  report  of  the  Indian  Office  for  1870, 
the  number  of  Indians  in  California  was  21,627  $  adding  7,241,  reported 
in  the  United  States  census  taken  the  same  year  as  “out  of  tribal  rela¬ 
tions,’7  and  therefore  not  included  in  the  report  of  the  Indian  Office,  we 
have  28,868,  a  substantial  agreement  with  the  census  report. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  for 
1876,  the  number  of  Indians  in  California  was  but  8,424  ;  adding  to  this 
number  7,241,  as  before,  we  have  15,665,  an  appareut  decrease  in  six 
years  of  13,203,  or  nearly  50  per  cent.  But  it  does  not  follow  from  this 
.  that  the  actual  decrease  is  so  great,  or  that  there  has  been  any  diminu¬ 
tion  whatever.  If  such  a  rule  were  followed,  no  allowance  made  for  ex¬ 
cessive  estimates  at  an  early  period,  imperfect  reports,  emigration,  with¬ 
drawal  from  agencies  and  tribal  relations,  and  a  comparison  made 
between  the  report  of  the  Indian  Office  for  1870  and  the  report  of  the 
same  office  for  1872,  it  would  be  found  that  in  two  years  the  number  of 
Indians  in  California  had  decreased  18,828,  or  more  than  65  per  cent. 

A  careful  study  of  the  reports  of  the  Indian  Office  from  1870  to  1876, 
and  of  information  from  other  sources,  will  probably  show  that  the  de- 
>  crease  from  1870  to  1876  has  not. been  so  great  as  a  comparison  of  the 

i  reports  for  those  two  years  would  seem  to  indicate,  though  it  is  proba¬ 

ble  that,  owing  to  certain  causes,  detailed  in  the  reports  of  the  Indian 
Office,  from  year  to  year,  the  number  of  Indians  in  California  is  some¬ 
what  less  now  than  seven  years  ago.  But  the  fact  should  not  be  forgot¬ 
ten  that  actual  enumeration  always  reduces  the  estimated  number  of 
Indians  by  a  much  greater  ratio  than  any  or  all  causes  reduces  their 
actual  numbers. 

The  Iroquois  Confederacy. 

This  confederacy,  comprising  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Cayugas,  Ouon- 
dagas,  Senecas,  and,  since  about  1712-’15,  the  Tuscaroras,  affords 
2 


18 


peculiar  opportunities  to  study  the  changes  and  limitations  of  Indian 
population  under  many  conditions.  Its  numbers  have  been  a  subject 
of  speculation,  estimate,  and  enumeration  for  more  than  two  hundred 
years,  first  as  a  study  of  their  military  strength  as  enemies  or  as  allies  ; 
next  as  a  commercial  element,  on  which  the  extent  of  the  fur  trade  was 
largely  dependent;  and  finally  as  a  constituent  of  the  legitimate  settled 
population.  During  this  period  they  have  been  subjected  to  most  of  the 
usual  severe  tests  encountered  by  every  people  struggling  upward  from 
barbarism  toward  civilization ;  and  to  one,  war,  in  an  extraordinary 
degree,  as  alternately  the  allies  and  enemies  of  the  French  and  English 
in  their  giant  contests  for  supremacy  in  North  America,  and  as  the  allies 
of  one  or  other  side  in  the  war  of  Independence,  and  a  part  of  them  again 
in  the  war  of  1812.  Their  villages  have  been  destroyed  and  their  fields 
ravaged  repeatedly  by  the  French  and  American  armies.  More  than 
Jhalf  have  been  removed  once;  a  large  part  twice.  Some  of  them  have 
rbeen  always  secluded  on  reservations,  and  had  but  limited  intercourse 
with  whites;  while  others  have  mingled  freely  with  their  white  neigh¬ 
bors,  by  whose  settlements  they  have  been  surrounded  for  nearly  a  cen¬ 
tury.  Some  have  attained  the  dignity  of  citizenship,  and  a  judicial  tri¬ 
bunal  in  the  State  of  New  York  has  lately  decided  that  the  Oneidas  liv¬ 
ing  in  that  State  have  the  right  to  vote.  These  Indians  are  usually,  it 
Jm4y  almost  be  said  universally,  spoken  and  written  of  as  “  a  remnant 
of-jthe  Six  Nations,”  thus  conveying  the  idea  that  at  some  period  in  the 
dim  past  the  Six  Nations  were  tribes  whose  immense  numbers  justified 
the  imposing  title  “  nations.”  Let  us  try  to  lift  the  veil,  and,  by  such 
light  as  history  affords,  study  the  question  of  their  numbers  in  the  past 
and  present,  without  reference  to  any  cherished  theory,  or  being  misled 
by> conjecture.  Estimates  will  be  of  some  assistance  here  for  purposes 
Micomparison,  if  we  steadily  bear  in  mind  that  they  are  almost  invaria¬ 
bly  greater  than  the  true  number. 

The  tribes  composing  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  are  fully  described  in 
a  recent  work*  by  Dr.  Morgan. 

;  The  force  of  the  thoughtful  remarks  of  Dr.  Morgan  on  the  natural 
liniitations  of  Indian  population  living  under  gentile  institutions  will 
appreciated  by  every  student  of  the  subject.  He  says:  u  Numbers 
within  a  given  area  were  limited  by  the  amount  of  subsistence  it  afforded. 
After  farinaceous  food  was  superadded  to  fish  and  game,  the  area  occu¬ 
pied  by  a  tribe  was  still  a  large  one  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the 
people.  New  York,  with  its  forty-seven  thousand  square  miles,  never 
contained  at  any  time  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  Indians,  includ¬ 
ing  with  the  Iroquois  the  Algonkins,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson 
and -upon  Long  Island,  and  the  Eries  and  Neutral  Nation  in  the  western 
section  of  the  State.  A  personal  government  founded  upon  gentes  was 
incapable  of  developing  sufficient  central  power  to  follow  and  control 
the  increasing  numbers  of  the  people,  unless  they  remained  within  rea¬ 
sonable  distance  from  each  other.”  f 

*  Ancient  Society.  New  York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1877.  A  most  valuable  contribu¬ 
tion  to  the  ethnical  history  of  man  has  appeared  within  the  present  year,  under  the 
-above' title,  from  the  pen  of  an  American  author.  Five  of  the  fifteen  chapters  of  that 
part  of  this  instructive  and  interesting  work  relating  to  the  “  growth  of  the  idea  of 
government,”  are  exclusively  devoted  to  a  description  of  the  ethnical  history  and  prog¬ 
ress  of  the  North  American  Indians;  and  a  proportionate  space  is  allotted  to  them  in 
the  three  other  parts  into  which  the  volume  is  divided.  This  work  is  destined  to  rank 
high  among  the  very  first  on  the  subject  to  which  it  relates. .  The  eminent  author,  Lewis 
H.  Morgan,  LL.  D.,  is  widely  known  by  his  other  works,  “  The  League  of  the  Iroquois,” 
“Systems  of  Consanguinity  and  Affinity  of  the  Human  Family,”  &c.  His  investiga¬ 
tions  have  covered  a  long  series  of  years,  enriched  by  personal  observation.  He  is  by 
adoption  a  member  of  the  Seneca  tribe. 

t  Ancient  Society,  p.  111. 


19 


And  again  :  u  They  [the  Iroquois]  resided  in  villages  which  were  usually 
surrounded  with  stockades,  and  subsisted  upon  fish  and  game  and  the 
products  of  a  limited  horticulture.  In  numbers  they  did  not  at  any 
time  exceed  20,000  souls,*  if  they  ever  reached  that  number.  Precari¬ 
ous  subsistence  and  incessant  warfare  repressed  numbers  in  all  the  abo¬ 
riginal  tribes,  including  the  village  Indians  as  well.  The  Iroquois  were 
enshrouded  in  the  great  forests  which  then  overspread  New  York, 
against  which  they  had  no  power  to  contend.  They  were  first  discov¬ 
ered  A.  D.  1608.  About  1675  they  attained  their  culminating  point, 
when  their  dominion  reached  over  an  area  remarkably  large,  covering 
the  greater  parts  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  and  portions 
of  Canada  north  of  Lake  Ontario.  At  the  time  of  their  discovery  they 
were  the  highest  representatives  of  the  red  race  north  of  New  Mexico 
in  intelligence  and  advancement,  though  perhaps  inferior  to  some  of 
the  Gulf  tribes  in  the  arts  of  life.  In  the  extent  and  quality  of  their 
mental  endowments  they  must  be  ranked  among  the  highest  Indians  in 
America.  Although  they  have  declined  in  numbers,  there  are  still  four 
thousand  Iroquois  in  New  York,  about  a  thousand  in  Canada,  and  near 
that  number  in  the  West ;  thus  illustrating  the  efficiency  as  well  as  per¬ 
sistency  of  the  arts  of  barbarous  life  in  sustaining  existence.  It  is  now 
said  that  they  are  slowly  increasing.”! 

Rejecting  La  Hontaifis  exaggerated  estimate  of  70,000  as  unworthy 
of  credit,  because  it  is  not  supported  by  any  trustworthy  evidence,  or 
corroborated  by  any  other  authority,  the  first  estimate  to  be  noted  here 
is  that  of  1660. 


1660. 

/ 


The  Jesuit  Relation  of  this  year  makes  the  total  number  of  warriors 
2,200,  which,  computing  at  the  rate  of  five  persons  to  each  warrior,  a 
liberal  allowance  in  the  case  of  the  Iroquois,!  indicates  a  total  popula¬ 
tion  of  11,000.  The  author  of  the  Relation  remarks:  (*  It  is  marvelous 
that  so  few  should  make  so  great  a  havoc,  and  strike  such  terror  to  so 
many  tribes.”  § 

1665. 


There  are  two  estimates  for  this  year. 

I.  The  Jesuit  Relation  for  1665, ||  which  makes  the  number  of  warriors 
2,350,  a  total  population  of  11,750,  an  increase  of  750  compared  with  the 
estimate  of  1660. 

II.  In  the  account  of  the  French  expedition  into  the  Iroquois  country, 
which  estimates  the  number  of  their  warriors  as  follows :  Mohawks,  300 
to  400;  Oneidas,  140;  Onondagas,  300 ;  Cayugas,  300;  Senecas,  1,200. 
Total,  taking  the  highest  estimate  of  the  Mohawks,  2,340  warriors,  or 
11,700. 

*  A  modification  of  the  views  entertained  and  expressed  by  the  same  author  in  1851, 
when  he  wrote:  ‘‘The  period  of  their  greatest  prosperity  and  of  their  highest  num¬ 
bers  was  evidently  about  the  year  1650,  shortly  after  the  commencement  of  their  ii> 
ercourse  with  Europeans.  At  that  time  their  total  population  may  be  safely  placed 
at  25,000.” — League  of  the  Iroquois.  Rochester,  1851,  pp.  26,  27. 

t  Ancient  Society,  pp.  125,  126.  Dr.  Morgan’s  estimate  of ‘their  present  numbers  is 
too  low,  as  will  be  seen  further  on. 

t  The  word  Iroquois,  wherever  it  appears  in  these  notes,  is  used  to  denote  the  Six 
Nations  only,  not  all  the  Iroquois. 

$  Parkman’s  Jesuits  in  North  America,  p.  lxvi,  note. 

||  Ibid. 

Papers  relating  to  Denonville  and  de  Tracy’s  Expeditions.  Documentary  History 
of  New  York,  vol.  1,  pp.  60, 61. 


20 


The  substantial  agreement  between  these  estimates  will  be  noted. 
Both  were  based  on  information  furnished  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries, 
whose  personal  observations  in  the  Iroquois  country  had  extended  over 
a  period  of  some  years.  Le  Moyne  had  been  sent  as  an  envoy  to  the 
Onondagas  in  1654,  and  had  doubtless  obtained  much  knowledge  re¬ 
specting  the  numbers  of  the  Iroquois  generally,  both  from  themselves 
and  from  the  captive  Hurons,  among  whom,  before  their  captivity,  he 
had  labored  many  years,  and  who,  at  this  time  received  him  with  joy.* * * § 
A  Jesuit  mission  had  also  been  founded  at  Onondaga  nine  years  before 
(1656),  and  the  Jesuits  had  made  extensive  tours  of  missionary  observa¬ 
tion  among  the  villages  of  the  Iroquois  during  that  period. 

1677. 

Twelve  years  later  two  estimates  of  the  number  of  Iroquois  warriors 
were  also  made. 

1.  T6at  of  Wentworth  Greenhalgh,  who  made  a  journey  from  Albany 
westward  through  the  Iroquois  country  in  the  summer  of  1677,  visiting 
most  of  their  towns.  He  estimates  the  number  of  their  warriors  as  fol¬ 
lows:!  Mohawks,  300;  Oneidas,  200 ;  Onondagas,  350  ;  Cayugas,  300; 
Senecas,  1,000 ;  total,  2,150;  indicating  a  population  of  10,750,  a  decrease 
of  about  1,000  from  the  French  estimate  of  1665. 

2.  That  of  Colonel  Coursey,  at  Albany,  who  estimated  their  whole 
number  at  17,000.  Morgan  remarks  of  this  estimate,  “but  it  is  known 
that  his  (Colonel  Coursey’s)  means  of  judging  were  very  imperfect.7'! 

Of  these  two  estimates  that  of  Greenhalgh,  based  on  personal  obser¬ 
vation,  is,  of  course,  to  be  accepted  as  most  trustworthy. 

1681. 

The  intendant  of  New  France,  Du  Chesneau,  in  his  Memoir  on  the 
Western  Indians, §  dated  October  13, 1681,  estimates  the  number  of  Iro¬ 
quois  warriors  at  “  no  more  than  2,000  men  at  most,77  or  10,000  persons. 

1682. 

Governor  de  la  Barre,  when  preparing  for  his  expedition  into  the  Iro¬ 
quois  country  in  1682,  estimated  the  number  of  their  warriors  at  2,600, 
or  13,000  in  all.||  He  was  estimating  the  strength  of  an  enemy  lie  ex¬ 
pected  soon  to  encounter. 

1685. 

In  a  French  “  Memoir  concerning  the  present  state  of  Canada,77 
dated  November  12, 1685,  the  number  of  warriors  was  estimated  as  fol¬ 
lows:  Mohawks,  200;  Oneidas,  150;  Onondagas,  300;  Cayugas,  200; 
Senecas,  1,200;  total,  2,050,  or  10,250  souls. 

1687. 

Another  French  u  Memoir  on  the  state  of  Canada,77  dated  January, 
1687,  says:  u  The  Iroquois  force  consists  of  2,000  picked  warriors.77** 
This  would  indicate  a  total  population  of  about  10,000,  or  perhaps  a  few 
more. 

*  Parkman’s  Old  Regime  In  Canada,  p.  13. 

t  Doc.  Hist.  New  York,  vol.  1,  pp.  11-14. 

|  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  25. 

§  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  9,  p.  162. 

||  Ibid.  vol.  9,  p.  196. 

y  Doc.  Hist.  New  York,  vol.  1,  p.  196. 

**New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  9rp.  321. 


21 


1689. 

In  1689,  Governor  Bellomont,  in  accordance  with  instruction,  made 
a  report,  showing  the  number  of  whites  and  Indians  respectively  in  1689 
and  1698,  to  show  what  decrease  had  ensued  from  the  war  during  that 
period.  He  reported  the  number  of  Iroquois  warriors  in  1689  as  follows:* * * § 
Mohawks,  270  ;  Oneidas,  180;  Onondagas,  500;  Cayugas,  320;  Senecas, 
1,300;  total,  2,570  ;  aggregate,  12,850.  Perhaps  this  estimate  did  not 
include  the  Iroquois  who,  under  the  influence  of  the  French  missiona¬ 
ries,  had  emigrated  to  Canada  some  years  before.  It  is  well  to  remark 
here  that  they,  whatever  may  have  been  their  numbers,  were  probably 
not  included  in  Governor  Bellemonfs  estimate  of  1698 ;  and  perhaps, 
though  not  probably,  they  were  omitted  from  the  estimate  of  Governor 
Hunter  in  1720.  As  a  general  rule,  they  were  included  in  all  estimates 
preceding  the  Revolution. 

1698. 

Governor  Bellomont,  in  the  report  above  mentioned,  stated  the  num¬ 
ber  of  Iroquois  warriors  in  1698  as  follows:!  Mohawks,  110;  Oneidas, 
70;  Onondagas,  250;  Cayugas,  200;  Senecas,  600;  total,  1,230;  aggre¬ 
gate,  6,150;  thus  showing  a  decrease  of  more  than  one-half  their  num¬ 
ber  in  nine  years  of  war,  during  which  they  were  active  allies  of  the 
English  against  the  French.  In  a  letter  |  to  the  lords  of  trade,  dated 
May,  1698,  Governor  Bellomont  spoke  of  the  Iroquois  as  having  been 
u  half  destroyed  by  this  war,77  and  stated  that  he  had  given  an  order  to 
have  them  numbered.  The  activity  of  the  Iroquois  in  behalf  of  their 
English  allies  does  not  appear  to  have  been  diminished  by  their  losses 
and  reverses,  for  we  find  Governor  Hunter,  of  New  York,  writing  to 
Secretary  St.  John,  under  date  of  September  12, 1711,  when  the  English 
and  French  were  again  at  war,  enumerating  as  part  of  the  forces  de¬ 
signed  for  an  expedition  against  Canada  “  the  five  nations,  with  their 
allies,  800.77§  At  a  council  held  in  Albany  a  few  days  before  that,  the 
Indians  reported  their  warriors  ready  to  engage  in  the  expedition  as 
follows  :||  Senecas,  182;  Shawanoes  (Shawnees),  u  who  are  under  the 
Senecas,77  26  ;  Cayugas,  127;  Onondagas,  99:  Oneidas,  93;  Mohawks, 
155;  total,  682. 

1720. 

In  1720  Governor  Hunter,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  of  the  lords  of 
trade,  reported  the  Iroquois  as  “  not  making  in  all  above  2,000  fighting 
men.77!f  It  cannot  now  be  ascertained  whether  this  estimate  included 
the  Tuscaroras,  which  tribe,  between  1712  and  1720,  emigrated  from 
North  Carolina  to  New  York  and  became  a  member  of  the  Iroquois  con¬ 
federacy. 

1736. 

In  this  year  an  u  Enumeration  of  the  Indian  tribes  connected  with  the 
Government  of  Canada77  was  prepared.  Of  course  the  figures  given  are 
based  on  estimates,  not  on  actual  enumeration.  The  author  of  the  esti¬ 
mate  is  not  known  with  certainty.  Dr.  O’Callaghan  attributes  it  in  one 

*  Doc.  History  New  York,  vol.  1,  p.  690 ;  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  4,  p.  420. 

t  Ibid. 

f  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  4,  p.  305. 

§  Ibid.,  vol.  5,  p.  254. 

||  Ibid.,  vol.  5,  p.  272. 

II  Ibid.,  vol.  5,  p.  557. 


22 


work*  to  Joncaire,  from  the  fact  that  the  author  describes  himself  as  an 
adopted  member  of  the  Seneca  tribe,  to  which  Joncaire  belonged  by 
adoption  ;  but  in  anotherf  he  says:  “This  cannot  well  be,  as  that  officer 
was  on  the  Ohio  at  this  date,  and  the  writer  was  at  Michilimacina.”  He 
might  possibly  have  been  at  both  places  the  same  year.  Schoolcraft, 
in  his  History  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  attributes  the  estimate  to  M.  de  la 
Chauvignerie,  but  on  what  authority  is  unknown.  It  bears  evidence  of 
care  and  extensive  personal  observation,  and  maybe  regarded  as  among 
the  most  trustworthy  of  the  early  estimates  of  Indian  population.  The 
Iroquois  warriors  were  estimated  as  follows,  including  those  within  the 
present  limits  of  Canada:  Iroquois,  Sault  St.  Louis  (Canada),  300;  Iro¬ 
quois,  Toniata  (Canada),  10 ;  Iroquois,  Lake  of  Two  Mountains  (Can¬ 
ada),  GO;  Onondagas,  200;  Mohawks,  80;  Oneidas,  100;  Cayugas,  120; 
Senecas,  350;  Tuscaroras,  250;  a  total  of  1,470.  This  vould  indicate  a 
total  Iroquois  population,  including  those  whose  descendants  now  live 
in  Canada,  of  7,350. 

One  fact  in  this  estimate  should  be  noted.  The  author  was  an  adopted 
member  of  the  Seneca  tribe,  and  it  may  reasonably  be  supposed,  there¬ 
fore,  that  his  information  regarding  it  was  more  definite  than  that  re¬ 
specting  anv  other.  His  estimate  of  the  Senecas  vas  350,  or  in  all 
1,750. 

1738. 

The  commissioners  of  Indian  affairs  for  the  province  of  New  York,  in 
reply  to  inquiries  of  the  governor  and  council,  in  a  report  dated  Febru¬ 
ary  4,  1738,  estimated  the  numbers  of  the  Indian  warriors  as  follows  :| 

“The  Six  Nations,  including  the  Biver  and  Schaachkook  Indians,  are 
about  1,500  fighting  men.  *  *  *  The  Indians  living  near  about  Montreal 
and  Quebeck  are  about  1,000  fighting  men” ;  total,  2,500,  or  in  all  12,500. 

But  these  included  the  “  Biver  and  Schaachkook  Indians,”  the  former 
of  which,  according  to  the  estimate  of  Earl  Bellomont,  numbered  450, 
or  about  7  per  cent,  of  the  Indian  population ;  estimating  their  strength 
in  1738  according  to  the  same  ratio,  they  numbered  525,  and  deducting 
this  number  from  7,500  (1,500  x  5)  leaves  6,975  Iroquois  in  New  York. 

The  estimate  of  the  commissioners,  regarding  the  Indians  in  Canada  of 
all  tribes,  was  of  course  entirely  conjectural.  The  French  estimate  of 
1736  was  based  on  much  better  information,  and  was  as  follows :  Hurons, 

60  warriors;  Abenakes  of  St.  Francis,  180;  Algonkins,  &c.,  85;  Iro¬ 
quois,  370;  total,  695,  or  in  all  3,475.  Combining  the  English  estimate 
of  the  Iroquois  in  New  York  and  the  French  estimate  of  the  Iroquois  in 
Canada,  we  have  8,825. 

1763. 

We  come  now  to  an  estimate  made  in  November,  1763,  which  may  be 
accepted  with  more  confidence  than  any  that  preceded  it.  The  period 
was  favorable  to  a  fair  statement  based  on  the  best  evidence  that  could 
be  procured.  The  contest  between  France  and  England  for  ascendency  > 
in  North  America,  which  began  in  1613,  and  continued  with  few  inter¬ 
missions  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  was  definitely  terminated  by 
the  treaty  of  peace  of  February,  1763,  when  Canada  passed  into  the 
possession  of  Great  Britain.  The  military  strength  of  the  Iroquois,  no 
longer  interposed  as  a  barrier  to  protect  the  English  frontier  and  to 
form  a  contingent  for  military  expeditions  against  the  French,  was  now 

*  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  vol.  1,  p.  23,  nole. 

t  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  9,  p.  1C58,  note. 

X  Doc.  Hist.  New  York,  vol.  4,  p.  240. 


23 


a  matter  of  less  consequence,  and  the  opportunities  to  ascertain  their 
-  actual  numbers  and  condition  were  greatly  bettered.  Sir  William  John¬ 
son,  an  enlightened,  public  spirited  man,  who  had  long  lived  among 
the  Iroquois,  and  who  enjoyed  their  highest  respect  and  affection, 
was  the  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs.  He  took  a  warm  interest 
in  their  affairs  and  in  all  efforts  to  improve  their  condition ;  he  doubt¬ 
less  understood* *  their  circumstances  better  than  any  other  man  of  his 
century.  His  estimate  of  their  numbers,  based  on  extensive  personal 
observation  and  diligent  inquiry,  was  as  follows:*  Mohawks,  100  men ; 
Oneidas,  250  men  ;  Tuscaroras,  140  men  ;  Onondagas,  150  men  ;  Cayu- 
gas,  200  men  ;  Senecas,  1,050  men  ;  Oswegatchies,f  80  men ;  Caghnawa- 
gas,f  300  men;  total,  2,330.  Allowing  live  persons  to  each  man,  the 
total  number  was  11,650. 

Besides  these,  there  were  “  Nanticokes,  Conoys,  Tutecoes,  Saponeys, 
&c.,  200  men.7’  These  were  tribes  from  the  county  south  of  New 
York,  who  had  removed  from  there  and  settled  on  the  Susquehanna,  on 
lauds  allotted  by  the  Six  Nations.  Sir  William  Johnson  speaks  of  them 
as  being  “immediately  under  the  direction  of  the  Six  Nations.”  Some 
of  these  dependents  and  allies  of  the  Six  Nations  may  have  been  event¬ 
ually  incorporated  into  that  body,  but  it  appears,  according  to  Sir  Will¬ 
iam  Johnson’s  letter  to  Governor  Tryon,  in  October,  1773,  that,  though 
still  allies  of  the  Six  Nations,  many  of  them  had  removed  from  the  Sus¬ 
quehanna  westward. § 

1768. 

The  next  estimate  is  that  of  Capt.  Thomas  Hutchins,  who,  according 
to  Mr.  Jefferson, ||  visited  most  of  the  tribes  in  1768,  and  published  the 
results  of  his  observations  in  London  ten  years  afterward.  His  esti¬ 
mate  was  as  follows  :  Oswegatchies,  100;  Caghnawagas,  300;  Mohawks, 
160  ;  Oneidas,  300  ;  Tuscaroras,  200  ;  Onondagas,  260  ;  Cayugas,  200  ; 
Senecas,  1,000  ;  total,  2,520,  or  12,600  persons,  besides  the  subject- tribes 
on  the  Susquehanna,  which  he  estimated  at  310  warriors,  or  1,550  per¬ 
sons,  making  14,150;  an  increase  over  Sir  William  Johnson’s  estimate, 
five  years  before,  of  950  Iroquois  and  550  of  the  Indians  on  the  Susque¬ 
hanna.^} 

1770. 

In  a  letter  to  Bev.  Charles  Inglis,  dated  November,  1770,  Sir  William 
Johnson  estimated  the  numbers  of  the  Iroquois  warriors  as  follows  :** 
Onondagas,  200 ;  Cayugas,  260;  Senecas,  1,000.  The  numbers  of  the 
Mohawks  and  Oneidas  are  not  specifically  given,  but  the  letter  contin¬ 
ues  :  “  There  are,  besides,  many  of  every  nation  settled  with  other  tribes 
at  and  about  the  Susquehanna,  &c.,  which,  if  added  to  their  respective 
nations,  would  increase  the  number,  and  the  Tuscaroras  alone  since  the 
last  body  of  them  came  from  the  southward  to  joyn  the  rest  may  now 
[make]  abt.  near  250,  so  that  the  whole  of  the  Six  Nations  without  includ¬ 
ing  any  others  will  amount  to  2,000  fighting  men,  by  which  the  number  of 
souls  may  be  calculated  in  the  usual  manner.”  This  would  indicate  a 
total  Iroquois  population  of  10,000,  and  shows  a  slight  decrease  from  the 
estimate  of  the  same  author  seven  years  before. 

*  Doc.  Hist.  New  York,  vol.  1,  pp.  26-27. 

t  Emigrants  from  the  Six  Nations,  chiefly  Onondagas. 

t  Emigrant  Mohawks  in  Canada. 

§  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  8,  p.  459. 

||  Notes  on  Virginia,  p.  138. 

IT  Ibid.,  pp.  139,  140. 

*  *  Doc.  Hist.  New  York,  vol.  4,  p.  427. 


24 


1773. 

In  June,  1774,  Governor  Tryon,  of  New  York,  made  a  report  on  the 
state  of  the  province  to  the  British  Government,  in  which  he  embodied 
a  report* * * §  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  dated  October  22, 1773,  respecting  the 
number  and  disposition  of  the  Indians.  This  report  is  especially  inter¬ 
esting  as  giving  the  latest  information  regarding  the  numbers  of  the 
Iroquois  before  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution.  The  whole  number  of 
the  Six  Nations  was  estimated  at  2,000  fighting  men,  or  10,000  souls,  of 
which  one-half  were  thought  to  be  Senecas.  There  is  some  obscurity 
regarding  one  part  of  this  report  relating  to  the  Indians  in  Canada;  but 
if  none  of  them  are  included  in  the  above  10,000,  and  all  are  estimated 
as  Iroquois,  they  would  swell  the  entire  numbers  of  the  Iroquois  to 
13,500.  Probably  1,000  should  be  deducted  for  Hurons,  Algonkins,  &c., 
who  were  never  members  of  the  confederacy,  leaving  12,500 ;  an  increase 
of  850  in  ten  years,  compared  with  Sir  William  Johnson’s  estimate  of 


Mr.  Jefferson  reproduces  the  estimatef  of  John  Dodge,  an  Indian 
trader,  under  this  date,  which  assigns  to  the  Mohawks  100  warriors; 
to  the  Oneidas  and  Tuscaroras  combined,  400;  to  the  Onondagas,  230 ;  to 
the  Cayugas,  220;  and  to  the  Senecas,  050;  total,  1,000,  or  8,000  souls. 
This  estimate,  it  will  be  observed,  does  not  include  the  emigrant  Mo¬ 
hawks,  Onondagas,  &c.,  which  were  comprised  in  that  of  Sir  William 
Johnson. 

1791. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  a  large  majority  of  the  Iroquois 
warriors  served  as  active  allies  of  the  British,  the  remainder  taking 
sides  with  the  colonies  or  remaining  neutral,  doubtless  prevented  any 
increase,  if  it  did  not  actually  reduce  the  Iroquois  population.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  1,810  of  their  warriors  joined  one  or  the  other  army.f 
The  first  estimate  of  their  numbers  after  the  Revolution  was  that  of 
Imlay,  corrected,  he  says,  “from  Croghan,  Bouquet,  Carver,  Hutchins, 
and  Dodge,  and  by  the  comparative  testimony  of  the  best-informed 
men  I  have  been  able- to  meet  with,  and  whose  knowledge  upon  this 
subject,  though  they  have  not  written,  I  should  prefer  to  either  of  the 
above  authorities,  who  were  obliged  to  take  the  greatest  part  of  what 
they  have  related  from  hearsay  or  proceed  upon  conjecture.”  The  letter§ 
containing  the  estimate  is  not  dated,  but  was  written  from  Kentucky 
soon  after  the  defeat  of  General  St.  Clair,  in  1791.  The  Iroquois  are 
numbered  as  follows:  Oswegatchies,  100;  Caghnawagas,  &c.,  240 ;  Sene¬ 
cas,  550;  Cayugas,  180;  Onondagas,  200;  Oneidas,  250;  Tuscaroras, 
170;  Mohawks,  140;  total,  1,830,  indicating  an  aggregate  population  of 
9,150.  Comparing  this  with  Dodge’s  estimate,  we  must  subtract  the  first 

*New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  8,  p.  458. 

t  Notes  on  Virginia,  p.  140.  This  is  identical  with  the  estimate  given  by  Schoolcraft 
in  vol.  6  of  his  History  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  made,  he  says,  “under  the  ausjbces  of  the 
War  Department.” 

$  Schoolcraft,  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  17.  This  would  indicate  a  total  population 
of  9,050.  Schoolcraft  remarks :  “  This  estimate,  which  appears  to  have  been  carefully 
made  from  authentic  documents,  is  the  utmost  that  could  well  he  claimed.  It  was 
made  at  the  era  when  danger  prompted  the  pen  of  either  party  in  the  war  to  exhibit 
the  military  strength  of  this  confederacy  in  its  utmost  power  ;  and  we  may  rest  here> 
as  a  safe  point  of  comparison,  or,  at  least,  we  cannot  admit  a  higher  population.” 

§  Topographical  Description  of  the  Western  Territory,  p.  294. 


two  items  in  this  estimate,  amounting  to  340,  or  1,720  persons,  which 
leaves  7,430  as  against  his  estimate  of  8,000  dated  twelve  years  before. 
It  seems  improbable  that  the  net  Iroquois  loss  daring  the  Revolution  was 
less  than  600,  as  it  would  be  made  to  appear  by  a  comparison  of  these 
two  estimates;  but  both  are  probably  entitled  to  about  equal  credit,  and 
both  are  probably  excessive. 

1796. 

Dr.  Morse  wrrote  that  when  he  visited  them  in  1796,  on  a  missionary 
journey,  “The  whole  population  of  the  Six  Nations,  including  their 
adopted  children,  was  3,748.”*  By  “  adopted  children”  Dr.  Morse  meant 
the  Moheakunnuk,  or  New  Stockbridge,  and  the  Brotherton  Indians,  who 
had  removed  to  New  York  and  settled  near  the  village  of  the  Oneidas 
on  land  given  them  by  that  tribe. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  this  and  following  estimates  deal  with  the  Iro¬ 
quois  population  as  a  whole,  the  warriors  not  being  specifically  estimated, 
and  that  one  element  of  uncertainty  is  thereby  eliminated. 

1818. 

Between  1796  and  1818  a  portion  of  the  Iroquois  again  engaged  in 
hostilities  against  the  United  States  as  the  allies  of  Great  Britain,  and 
in  consequence  many  more  emigrated  to  Canada.  In  the  latter  year, 
according  to  an  official  return  to  the  War  Department  by  Jasper  Parrish, 
Indian  subagent,  they  numbered  4,575 f  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

1819. 

According  to  a  report  made  to  the  New  York  legislature  in  March, 
1819,  the  number  of  Iroquois  in  New  York  at  that  time  was  4,538. 


3821. 


The  next  official  estimate  of  the  Iroquois  was  made  in  1821,  by  Rev. 
Jedidiah  Morse,  from  personal  observation  and  the  best  official  and  other 
data  he  could  obtain.  It  is  as  follows,  by  reservations  :J  Oneidas,  1,031; 
Tuscaroras,  314;  Onondagas,  229;  Senecas  and  Onondagas,  597 ;  Sene¬ 
cas  and  Delawares  §  (two  reservations),  729;  Senecas,  Cayugas,  and 
Onondagas,  700;  Senecas  and  a  few  of  other  tribes,  456;  total,  4,056;  a 
decrease  of  519,  compared  with  the  report  of  Parrish  three  years  before. 
This  decrease  may  be  explained  by  the  removal  of  a  number  of  the 
Oneidas  and  others  to  Canada,  and  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  the  Onei¬ 
das  were  then  making  preparations  to  remove  to  Green  Bay,  and  may 
have  been  absent  at  the  time  the  examination  was  made.  They  began 
to  remove  from  New  York  some  time  in  the  following  year. 

1825. 

i 

In  1825  the  Secretary  of  War  made  a  report  respecting  the  removal 
of  the  tribes  then  east  of  the  Mississippi,  in  which  the  numbers  of  the 

*  Morse’s  Report  on  Indian  Affairs,  appendix,  p.  76. 

t  Ibid.,  appendix,  p.  77. 

t  Ibid.,  appendix,  p.  361. 

$  These  were  a  few  individuals,  probably  not  exceeding  thirty,  who  had  become 
amalgamated  with  the  Senecas. 


26 


Iroquois  were  rated  as  follows:*  Oneidas,  1,096;  Ouonclagas,  416;  Cay- 
u gas,  90;  Senecas,  2,325;  Tuscaroras,  253  ;t  St.  Regis,  300;  total,  4,510. 
Besides  these,  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  551  Senecas  in  Ohio; 
making  an  aggregate  of  5,061. 

1829. 

General  Porter,  Secretary  of  War,  in  his  report  on  the  Indians  in  the 
United  States  in  1829,  enumerates  the  Iroquois  as  follows  :$  Senecas  in 
New  York,  2,300,  in  Ohio,  600;  Oneidas  in  New  York,  400,  in  Wiscon¬ 
sin,  700;  Onondagas,  450 ;  Oayugas,  100;  Tuscaroras,  250 ;  total,  4,800. 
But  it  will  be  noted  that  the  St.  Regis  Indians,  numbering  300,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  report  of  1825,  are  omitted.  Including  these,  the  total  would 
be  5,100. 

1845. 

In  1845  an  official  census  of  the  Iroquois  Indians  in  New  York  was 
made  by  H.  B.  Schoolcraft,  under  the  authority  of  the  State.  His 
report  to  the  secretary  of  state  of  New  York,  dated  October  31,  1845, 
enumerates  them  as  follows  :§  Senecas,  2,441;  Onondagas,  398 ;  Tusca¬ 
roras, 281;  Oneidas,  210;  Oayugas,  123;  Mohawks,  20;  St.  Regis,  360; 
Senecas  (in  Pennsylvania),  51;  total,  3,884. 

The  number'  of  Oneidas  in  Wisconsin  the  previous  year  (1844)  was 
officially  reported  ||  at  722;  Senecas  in  Indian  Territory,  125 ;  Senecas 
and  Shawnees,  211 ;  total,  deducting  one-half  of  the  last  number  for 
Shawnees,  925;  which,  added  to  those  officially  enumerated  as  above, 
makes  4,836. 

Schoolcraft  estimates  the  number  of  Iroquois  in  Canada  at  the  same 
time  at  2,106,  making  the  total  number  of  that  confederacy  6,942.  He 
remarks: If  u  I  cannot,  however,  submit  this  result  without  expressing 
the  opinion  that  the  Iroquois  population  has  been  lower  between  the 
era  of  the  revolutionary  war  and  the  present  time  than  the  census  now 
denotes;  and  that  for  some  years  past,  and  since  they  have  been  well 
lodged  and  clothed  and  subsisted  by  their  own  labor,  and  been  exempted 
from  the  diseases  and  casualties  incident  to  savage  life  and  the  empire 
of  the  forest,  their  population  has  recovered,  and  is  now  on  the  increase.77 

The  number  of  births  the  previous  year  was  reported  at  121;  the 
number  of  deaths  at  120;  the  number  of  marriages  at  36. 

1850. 

Although  official  estimates  of  the  numbers  of  the  Iroquois  might  be 
presented  for  nearly  every  year  since  1845,  it  will  serve  the  present  pur- 

*  History  Indian  Tribes,  vol.  3,  583,  seq. 

t  These  Indians  are  descendants  of  Iroquois,  chiefly  Mohawks,  who  emigrated  to 
Canada  in  the  seventeenth  century,  under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries. 
They  appear  in  some  of  the  ante-revolutionary  estimates  as  Caghnawagas.  Part  of 
those  Indians  afterward  settled  on  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  and  when  the  boundary- 
line  between  the  United  States  and  Canada  was  established  it  divided  their  settlement, 
one  portion  remaining  in  Canada  and  the  other  falling  within  the  limits  of  the  United 
States,  so  that  part  are  now  reported  in  the  Canadian  and  part  in  the  United  States 
census. 

+  History  Indian  Tribes,  vol.  3,  p.  590,  seq. 

$  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  New  York,  1846,  p.  17.  It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  these 
figures  with  those  given  in  the  tabulated  statement  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  p.  191  of  the 
same  volume,  which  foots  up  3,753,  instead  of  3,833  (51  in  Pennsylvania  deducted  from 
3,884).  The  net  difference,  excluding  the  Senecas  in  Pennsylvania,  is  80.  It  may  be 
that  these  were  reported  as  living  off  reservations  and  out  of  tribal  relations. 

||  Doc.  No.  2,  H.  R.,  28th  Cong.,  2d  session. 

I  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  17. 


27 


pose  and  economize  space  to  give  them  at  periods  of  five  years  each  from 
that  time  and  for  the  year  1877,  the  figures  for  which  year  have  been 
courteously  furnished  by  Hon.  E.  A.  Hayt,  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs,  from  his  forthcoming  annual  report.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
remark  that  the  reports  from  year  to  year  do  not  denote  any  state  of 
facts  different  from  that  presented,  there  having  been  no  remarkable 
fluctuations  of  Iroquois  population  from  any  cause. 

The  following  figures  are  from  official  enumeration  :* * * §  Oneidas  in  New 
York,  153;  in  Wisconsin,  7(52 ;  Onoudagas,  376  ;  Cayugas,  150 ;  Senecas 
in  Pennsylvania,  55;  in  New  York,  2,563;  in  Indian  Territory,  158 ; 
Senecas  and  Shawnees,  t  Indian  Territory,  273;  Tuscaroras,  285;  St. 
Regis,  450;  total,  5,225. 

1855. 

Two  enumerations  of  the  Iroquois  at  this  period  are  presented  : 

1.  The  report  of  the  New  York  State  census  for  1855  is  as  follows,  J 
by  reservations :  Allegany,  Tonawanda,  and  Cattaraugus,  chiefly  Senecas, 
2,535;  Oneida,  161;  Onondaga,  349;  St.  Regis,  413;  Tuscarora,  316; 
total,  3,774  ;  but  it  is  shown  in  a  note  that  the  marshal’s  enumeration  of 
Cattaraugus  reservation  is  too  small,  1,388  having  been  reported  in  May, 
1855,  on  the  annuity  rolls ;  adding  209,  the  difference  between  1,388  and 
1,179,  we  have  3,953.  This,  it  is  to  be  noted,  included  only,  those  living  on 
reservations,  besides  whom  there  were  scattered  throughout  the  State 
235  other  Indians,  who  had  abandoned  tribal  relations  and  were  living 
among  the  whites.  Probably  most  of  these,  except  8  in  Kings,  7  in 
Queens,  and  11  in  New  York  Counties,  were  Iroquois;  but  there  are  no 
means  of  ascertaining  with  certainty.  § 

2.  An  official  statement  by  the  Indian  Office.  ||  It  is  as  follows  :  Cayu¬ 
gas,  143;  Oneidas  in  New  York,  249;  in  Wisconsin,  978;  Onondagas, 
470;  St.  Regis  (1849),  450;  Senecas  in  New  York,  2,557  ;  in  Ohio,  180; 
Senecas  and  Shawnees,  Lewiston,  271;  Tuscarora,  280;  total,  5,578. 
To  form  a  comparison  with  the  New  York  census  it  is  necessary  to  de¬ 
duct  1,429  Indians  above  reported  not  in  that  State,  leaving  4,149,  an 
excess  over  the  New  York  census  report  of  199. 

1860. 

The  enumeration  for  this  3^ear  is  taken  from  the  report  of  the  Indian 
Office  for  1861.  It  is  as  follows:  Cayugas,  151;  Oneidas,  291 ;  Onon¬ 
dagas,  298;  Senecas,  2,871;  Tuscaroras,  334;  total,  3,945.  This  is  an 
imperfect  report,  the  Oneidas  in  Wisconsin,  and  the  Senecas,  and  Sene¬ 
cas  and  Shawnees  in  the  Indian  Territory  not  being  enumerated  at  all. 
The  report  of  the  New  York  agent  for  1860  is  brief  and  imperfect,  and 
there  is  no  published  report  of  that  agency  for  1861. 

1865. 

For  this  year  two  enumerations  are  presented ;  the  first  of  the  Iro¬ 
quois  in  the  State  of  New  York  alone  and  the  second  of  all  the  Iroquois 
in  the  United  States. 

*  History  Indian  Tribes,  vol.  1,  p.  441. 

t The  population  of  each  is  not  given.  This  small  band,  now  known  as  “  Eastern 
Shawnees,”  early  united  with  the  Senecas ;  they  have  been  officially  considered  together 
since  the  Senecas  resided  in  Ohio ;  and  doubtless  were  uuited  and  lived  with  them  as 
early  as  1711,  when  Shawnee  warriors  figured  in  the  contingent  furnished  the  English 
for  the  expedition  against  Canada. 

f  Census  of  New  York,  1855,  p.  500. 

§  In  1855  the  subjeet  of  Indian  education  came  before  the  New  York  legislature,  and 
according  to  a  report  of  a  committee  of  the  assembly  the  Iroquois  were  “  about  18  per 
cent,  more  numerous  than  they  were  twenty-three  years  ago,  and  are  steadily  increas¬ 
ing.” 

)|  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1855,  pp.  575,  576. 


28 


1.  The  report  of  the  New  York  State  census  remarks 

The  census  shows  a  slow  but  steady  increase  of  population  among  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  State,  thus  opposing  facts  to  the  favorite  theory  of  the  gradual  and  final  extinc¬ 
tion  of  the  Indian  race.  The  discontinuance  of  wars  prosecuted  for  revenge  or  for  the 
purpose  of  replacing  deceased  members  of  families  and  the  protection  -secured  under 
the  laws  of  civilized  life  appear  to  promise  the  indefinite  continuance  of  these  people 
among  us,  and  suggest  the  importance  of  introducing  intelligence  and  industry  as  the 
surest  means  of  raising  them  to  the  degree  of  improvement  that  may  entitle  them  to 
the  duties  and  privileges  of  citizens. 

The  enumeration  is  as  follows,  by  reservations:  Allegany,  Cattarau¬ 
gus,  and  Tonawanda,  2,681 ;  Oneida,  155  ;  Onondaga,  350 ;  St.  Regis, 
426  ;  Tuscarora,  370;  total,  3,992.  The  number  of  Indians  in  the  State 
not  on  reservations  is  not  given. 

2.  The  report  of  the  Indian  Office,  which  is  as  follows:!  Iroquois  in 
New  York,  3,956  Oneidas  in  Wisconsin,  1,064;  Quapaws,  Senecas, 
and  Shawnees,  and  Senecas  in  the  Indian  Territory,  670;  total,  5,690. 
From  this  must  be  deducted* * * §  the  Quapaws,  the  number  of  which  sep¬ 
arately  reported  in  1864  was  431  and  in  1866  350 ;  they  may  be  esti¬ 
mated  at  390  in  1865.  Deducting  this  number  from  5,690,  we  have 
5,300  as  the  total  number  of  the  Iroquois  in  1865. 

1870. 

For  this  year  also  two  enumerations  are  presented  : 

1.  The  report  of  the  United  States  census  :§  Sustaining  tribal  rela¬ 
tions,  4,705  ;  out  of  tribal  relations,  439  ;  total,  5,141.  From  this  should 
probably  be  deducted  7  in  Kings,  4  in  Queens,  9  in  New  York,  and  162 
in  Suffolk  Counties  ;  total,  182  ;  which  would  leave  4,962  as  the  Iroquois 
population  of  New  York  in  1870. 

2.  The  report  of  the  Indian  Office  for  1870  does  not  show  separately 
the  Oneida  population  in  Wisconsin  nor  the  number  of  Senecas  in  the 
Indian  Territorj7.  The  number  of  Iroquois  in  New  York  is  given  at 
4,804. 

1875. 

For  this  year  we  have  the  New  York  census  and  the  report  of  Indian 
Affairs. 

1.  According  to  the  first,  the  total  number  of  Indians  in  New  York 
was  4,880.  By  deducting  from  this  the  number  in  Kings,  New  York, 
and  Suffolk  Counties,  208  (who  are  probably  Algonkins),  we  have  4,672 
as  the  Iroquois  population  of  New  York  in  1875. 

2.  According  to  the  report  of  the  Indian  Office  for  the  same  year,  the 
Iroquois  population  of  the  United  States  was  as  follows  :  In  the  Indian 
Territory,  Senecas,  240,  Eastern  Shawnees,  97 ;  New  York,  4,955;  Wis¬ 
consin  Oneidas,  1,332  ;  total,  6,624. 

1877. 

The  enumeration  for  the  present  year  is  as  follows:  Senecas  in  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  2,963,  in  Indian  Territory,  235;  Eastern  Shaw¬ 
nees,  115;  Oneidas  in  New  York,  249,  in  Wisconsin,  1,324;  Onondagas,. 
493;  Cayugas,  184;  Tuscaroras,  401;  St.  Regis,  751;  total,  6,715. 

*  Report  New  York  State  census,  1865,  p.  600. 

t  Report  of  Indian  Office,  1865,  pp.  575-578. 

t  On  page  590  of  the  same  report  the  number  of  New  York  “  Senecas  and  others  ”  ia 
given  at  3,989. 

§  Page  xvii. 


29 


Iroquois  of  Canada. 

Mention  Las  been  made  of  the  Mohawks  and  others  who,  from  time 
to  time,  emigrated  to  Canada,  and  regarding  whose  numbers  some  esti¬ 
mates  at  an  early  period  have  been  given.  The  following  statement  of 
their  numbers  in  1868,  1874,  1875,  and  1876  is  presented. 

The  data  for  the  year  1868  are  from  the  report  of  F.  N.  Blake,  in  1870, 
United  States  consul  at  Hamilton,  Ontario;*  for  the  other  years  from 
the  official  reports  of  the  Canadian  Indian  office. 

In  1868  the  Iroquois  in  Canada  were  reported  as  follows: 


t  Mohawks  of  Bay  of  Qninte .  683 

Six  Nation  Indians  of  the  Grand  River . . 2,796 

Iroquois  of  Sault  St.  Louis .  1,  601 

Iroquois  of  St.  Regis .  801 


Total.. .  5,881 


In  1874,  1875,  and  1876  they  were  reported  as  follows: 


.  1874. 

1875. 

1876. 

Oneidas  of  the  Thames . 

604 

604 

604 

Mohawks  of  the  Bay  of  Quinte . . . 

784 

804 

822 

Six  Nations  of  Grand  River . . . . 

2,  996 

3,  052 

3,069 

1,511 

947 

Iroquois  of  Sault  St.  Louis . 

1,  557 

l'  511 
922 

Iroquois  of  St.  Regis . . . 

'904 

Total . 

6,  845 

6,  893 

6,  953 

Total  Iroquois  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

Adding  6,715,  the  number  of  Iroquois  in  the  United  States  in  1877,  to 
the  number  of  those  in  Canada  as  above  reported,  we  have  a  total  of 
13,668,  a  number  considerably  exceeding  any  trustworthy  estimate  of 
their  numerical  strength  for  more  than  one  hundred  years.  This  con¬ 
clusion  is  undoubtedly  rather  under  than  over  their  true  numbers,  as 
will  be  shown  at  a  future  time. 

These  Indians  have  in  their  history,  as  has  been  said,  experienced 
almost  every  test  that  can  be  applied  to  the  vitality  oUa  people  emerg¬ 
ing  from  barbarism  into  civilization,  aud  we  have  here  the  results  as 
affecting  their  numbers.  A  few  remarks  on  the  condition  of  those  in 
New  York  may  appropriately  find  place  here.  They  are  taken  from  the 
interesting  report  of  the  agent  in  that  State  for  1877,  kindly  furnished 
by  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  in  advance  of  its  publication. 
He  says : 

Of  the  27  teachers  in  the  Indian  State  schools  of  New  York,  9  were  Indians,  who 
having  been  judiciously  selected,  and  haviug  previously  received  thorough  education 
and  training  for  their  work,  in  high  schools,  with  aid  of  appropriations  from  the 
United  States,  succeeded*  admirably/  The  day  schools  under  instruction  of  the  Indian 
teachers  are  generally  better  sustained  by  the  Indian  parents,  and  have  larger  attend¬ 
ance  of  scholars  than  the  others.  The  largest  school  in  the  agency,  being  the  oue 
connected  with  the  Thomas  Orphan  Asylum  at  Cattaraugus,  with  an  average  daily 
attendance  of  about  90  students,  is  instructed  by  competent  Indian  teachers,  and  is  in 
all  respects  a  model  school.  I  deem  it  quite  desirable  for  the  success  of  these  Indian 
schools  that  an  appropriation  should  be  made  for  the  training  of  teachers  therein,  and 
I  respectfully  renew  the  recommendation  therefor  in  my  last  annual  report. 


*  H.  R.  Mis.  Doc.  No.  35,  Forty-first  Congress,  second  session. 


30 


Speaking  of  the  Cattaraugus  reservation  lie  remarks  : 

The  Iroquois  Agricultural  Society  of  the  Indians  of  the  State  of  New  York,  which  is 
incorporated  under  its  laws,  held  its  annual  fair  and  cattle-show  upon  this  reservation 
during  four  days  of  the  third  week  of  the  past  month.  More  people  attended  it  than 
at  any  preceding  fair  of  the  society,  and  the  exhibition  of  fruits,  vegetables,  and  grain 
was  exceedingly  creditable  to  the  Indians.  The  receipts  of  the  fair  were  over  $1,400, 
which  were  mostly  paid  out  in  premiums  to  the  exhibitors,  who  entered  over  f,30(> 
articles  for  exhibition. 

A  temperance  convention  of  the  Six  Nations  of  New  York  was  held  upon  this  reser¬ 
vation  during  three  days  of  the  fourth  week  of  the  past  month.  The  movement  was 
organized  by  the  leading  Indians,  of  whom  seventy  were  present  from  the  other  reser¬ 
vations  in  the  agency.  Four  Indian  brass  bands  of  music  were  in  attendance,  and 
nearly  all  the  speakers  were  Indians.  Much  enthusiasm  prevailed.  The  Indians  of 
Cattaraugus  reservation  turned  out  en  masse  to  attend  the  meetings  on  each  occasion, 
tilling  the  spacious  Presbyterian  church  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Some  of  the  Indians 
came  several  hundred  miles  to  attend  this  convention,  besides  the  delegates  who 
were  present  from  Green  Bay,  Wis.,  and  from  Canada.  The  Indians  of  the  agency  ap¬ 
pear  to  be  fairly  aroused  to  the  great  importance  of  protecting  themselves  from  the 
use  of  spirituous  liquors,  which  have  been  so  great  a  destroyer  of  their  race.  They 
have  temperance  organizations  upon  all  the  reservations,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  report¬ 
ing  a  marked  improvement  of  late  in  the  temperate  habits  of  these  people,  and  in  their 
willingness  to  aid  in  the  enforcement  of  the  criminal  laws  against  persons  who  sell 
them  liquors. 

He  thus  concludes  that  part  of  his  report  relating  to  the  Tuscaroras  : 

Circumstances  seem  to  have  contributed  in  making  the  Tuscaroras  more  self-reliant 
than  the  other  tribes  in  this  agency.  They  have  received  no  money  annuities  from  any 
source,  only  an  annuity  in  goods,  in  value  of  about  90  cents  per  capita.  They  are  a 
temperate,  industrious,  and  thrifty  agricultural  community,  and  in  their  farms,  farm- 
products,  buildings,  aud  agricultural  implements,  compare  favorably  with  their  white 
neighbors. 

These  extracts  show  the  general  condition  of  the  “  remnant  of  the 
Six  Nations  v  in  New  York,  and  it  is  not  very  different  from  their  condi¬ 
tion  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States  and  in  Canada.  Everywhere 
they  appear  to  be  increasing  in  numbers  as  they  advance  in  civilization. 

The  Sioux. 

These  Indians  have,  during  the  last  fifteen  years,  engaged  a  large 
share  of  the  public  attention,  especially  as  they  have  displayed  their 
military  strength  in  hostilities  against  the  whites.  The  study  of  the 
question  of  their  numbers  at  different  periods  has  not  yet  developed 
facts  that  warrant  the  presentation  even  of  estimates,  at  this  time,  and 
they  are  therefore  reserved  for  the  present.  Information  has  been 
sought  in  different  directions,  and  considerable  has  been  collected. 

Several  mouths  ago,  after  the  facts  respecting  the  natural  causes  of 
increase  and  decrease  of  Indian  population  had  accumulated  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  force  a  more  definite  inquiry  on  the  subject,  letters  in  the 
form  given  below  were  addressed  (Augusts)  to  several  gentlemen  who, 
from  long  personal  association  with  and  study  of  the  Sioux  tribes,  are 
peculiarly  qualified  to  give  information  respecting  them : 

One  of  tbe  series  of  centennial  reports  on  education  will  have  for  its  subject  Indian 
civilization  and  education. 

One  phase  of  the  subject  requires  further  investigation,  aud  I  address  you,  hoping 
that  you  will  be  able  to  contribute  some  facts  bearing  on  it.  There  is  a  pretty  general 
opinion  that  the  Indians  are  a  vauishing  race,  doomed  to  disappear  at  a  not  distant 
period.  Many  facts,  however,  have  been  developed  which  indicate  that  this  opinion 
is  not  correct,  and  that  the  Indians  generally  are  not  decreasing  in  numbers,  but,  in¬ 
stead,  are  increasing  in  proportion  as  they  yield  to  civilizing  influences.  The  popular 
opinion  now  held  is  no  doubt  responsible  for  the  apathy  with  which  efforts  in  behalf 
of  the  Indians  are  regarded,  and  it  is  important  that  the  theory  should  be  brought  to 
the  test  of  facts  and  experience. 

Your  long  acquaintance  with  the  Sioux  has  no  doubt  enabled  you  to  form  an  accurate 
opinion  regarding  their  increase  or  decrease  and  the  causes  which  have  governed  the 
fluctuations  of  population  in  that  tribe.  I  shall  be  greatly  obliged  if  you  will  favor 
me  briefly  with  a  statement  of  the  results  of  your  observations  in  these  particulars. 


31 


Two  of  the  replies  received  are  given  below.  The  first  is  from  Rev. 
Dr.  Riggs,  the  eminent  and  well-known  Indian  scholar  and  missionary. 
The  other  is  from  Mr.  John  P.  Williamson,  whose  life  from  childhood 
has  been  passed  among  the  Sioux,  and  who  has  been  for  many  years  a 
missionary  and  teacher,  and  is  now  United  States  special  Indian  agent 
at  the  Flandreau  agency,  Dakota.  Two  men  cannot  be  found  who  are 
more  competent  to  describe  the  past  and  present  condition  and  forecast 
the  probable  future  of  these  Indians  than  Dr.  Riggs  and  Mr.  William¬ 
son. 

The  substantial  agreement  between  their  estimates  and  conclusions, 
which  were  communicated  independently  and  without  conference  with 
each  other,  will  be  noted. 

LETTER  FROM  REV.  DR.  RIGGS. 

Missouri  River,  Peoria  Bottom, 

August  27,  1877. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  communication  of  the  8th  instant  has  been  forwarded  to  me 
from  Beloit. 

The  question  of  increase  and  decrease  of  Indian  populations  is  one  in  which  we  have 
been  considerably  interested.  At  various  times  in  the  progress  of  our  mission- work 
we  have  kept  life-tables  for  a  single  Dakota  village,  and  always,  I  believe,  with  the 
result  that  the  births  somewhat  exceeded  the  deaths.  Forty  years  ago  the  Dakota  or 
Sioux  nation  was  counted  variously  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  souls.  Now, 
it  is  known  to  number  at  least  ten  thousand  more.  But  while  it  would  not  be  fair  to 
infer  from  this  that  the  tribe  had  increased  that  much,  it  is  certainly  reasonable  to 
conclude  that  during  this  time  they  have  not  diminished,  but  rather  increased. 

And  yet  it  accords  with  my  observation,  that  for  a  certain  period  after  the  process 
of  civilization  has  well  commenced  in  an  Indian  community,  we  are  quite  likely  to  find 
their  number  diminishing.  The  Sioux,  as  a  people,  are  scrofulous  and  syphilitic — 
many  families  exceedingly  so.  Any  changes  in  their  manner  of  life  which  develop 
these  physical  tendencies  will  necessarily  increase  the  death-rate.  The  free  use  of 
flour  and  pork  by  the  people  who  have  heretofore  lived  on  wild  meat  and  roots  and  ber- 
f  ries,  or  even  if  they  have  added  the  little  patch  of  corn,  will  certainly  develop  scrof¬ 

ula.  The  same  is  true  of  living  in  a  close,  badly-ventilated  cabin,  supplied  with  a 
cooking-stove.  Thus  the  first  steps  towards  civilization  naturally,  almost  necessasily, 
increase  disease  and  death.  So  common  is  this  that  we  have  been  led  to  note,  in  re¬ 
gard  to  many  Dakota  families,  that  they  raise  almost  no  children — some  none  at  all. 

•And  in  carrying  on  boarding-schools  among  them  it  often  happens  that  a  scholar  must 
be  sent  home  to  the  wild  (i.  e.  outdoor)  life,  if  the  health  is  to  be  restored. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  this  crucial  period  is  oncepassed,  the  gospel  of  cleanliness 
becomes  in  a  large  sense  the  gospel  of  physical  salvation.  Then  families  and  commu¬ 
nities  commence  to  increase  again  in  numbers.  Some  portions  of  the  Sioux  people  are 
now  passing  through  this  stage  of  decline ;  some  families,  we  think,  are  beginning  to 
recuperate;  while  the  larger  part  of  the  tribe  are  yet  wild  and  not  apparently 
«  affected  by  the  process  of  civilization. 

The  published  statistics  of  the  Indians  in  the  State  of  New  York  show  a  very  large 
increase  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  They  have  reached  a  stage  of  recovery. 

As  your  letter  seems  to  suggest,  there  is  another  way  of  apparent  diminution  of  In¬ 
dians  who  are  passing  into  the  conditions  of  civilization.  The  more  civilized  and 
Christianized  portions  of  our  Dakota  people  are  now  coming  more  and  more  into  con¬ 
tact  with  the  better  class  of  white  people.  Many  families  and  individuals  are  becom¬ 
ing  detached  from  their  own  people  and  merged  with  the  whites.  Some  of  them  are 
mixed-bloods,  and  all  such  come  to  be  counted  as  half-breeds.  Many  such  families  are 
now  scattered  through  the  State  of  Minnesota.  Other  Sioux  have  gone  off  and  formed 
colonies  of  homesteaders,  as  the  colonies  of  Big  Sioux  and  Brown  Earth.  They  are  in 
the  process  of  mixture  and  merging.  This  is  not  miscegenation,  but  a  proper  and  de¬ 
sirable  mixture  of  the  races,  the  inferior  being  elevated  and  finally  absorbed  and  lost 
in  the  superior.  • 

No,  sir  ;  I  do  not  think  the  facts  which  are  before  us  at  all  justify  the  belief  that  the 
Indians  are  necessarily  a  vanishing  race  except  as  Indians.  We  do  not  care  to  raise  any 
more  Indians,  but  to  raise  Indians  up  to  take  their  proper  place  among’ white  men,  civil¬ 
ized,  Christianized.  The  facts  abundantly  prove  them  capable  of  becoming  such.  And 
if  this  is  not  their  history  in  the  half  century  coming,  the  fault  will  be  largely  ours. 
We  have  no  right  to  assume  that  they  are  a  race  given  over  of  God  to  destruction,  and 
we  have  less  right  to  doom  them  ourselves. 

Yours,  very  truly,  S,  R.  RIGGS, 

General  John  Eaton,  Missionary. 

Commissioner  of  Education. 


32 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  WILLIAMSON. 


Greenwood,  Dak.,  September  3,  1877. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  August  8  is  received.  *  *  *  My  observation  of  the 

Sioux  Indians  since  my  childhood,  forty  years  ago,  leads  me  to  think  that  the  vision  of 
the  last  Indian  jumping  into  eternity  toward  the  setting  sun  is  a  poet’s  dream  of  the 
distant  future. 

Forty  years  ago  the  Sioux  were  supposed  to  number  25,000,  which  was  probably  an 
overestimate,  as  it  was  based  on  the  number  of  lodges,  the  rule  being  to  count  ten 
persons  to  a  lodge,  which  I  think  very  seldom  the  case.  Now,  the  Sioux  are  estimated 
at  50,000,  though  40,000  would  probably  be  a  better  count,  and  as  near  the  truth  as 
25,000  was  forty  years  ago,  which  would  show  an  increase  of  60  per  cent,  in  forty  years. 
This  increase,  however,  is  with  a  tribe  that  has  yielded  but  little  to  civilization. 

In  changing  from  a  savage  to  civilized  life  there  is  always  a  great  check  to  the  growth 
of  any  people.  I  look  upon  the  Indians  in  their  several  stages  about  thus  : 

1.  in  their  wild  state  they  increase  quite  rapidly,  unless  disturbed  by  some  violent 
agent,  as  war,  famine,  pestilence.  The  wildest  portion  of  the  Sioux  tribe  has  been  the 
Titanwan,  including  the  Sicangu,  Itazipcho,  Sihasapa,  Minneconjou,  Oohenopa,  Oglala, 
and  Hunkpapa  bands.  These  have  had  the  least  intercourse  with  the  whites,  and  have 
not  planted,  but  have  suffered  comparatively  little  from  famine,  living  in  the  best 
buffalo  country  in  America.  And  they  have  increased  the  most  rapidly.  They  have 
probably  more  than  doubled  in  forty  years,  now  numbering  about  25,000 ;  though 
Sitting  Bull  allows  no  census-takers  in  his  camp.  My  observation,  as  well  as  the  tes¬ 
timony  of  the  Indians,  is  that  they  are  much  more  healthy  when  they  roam  at  large 
and  live  on  wild  meat,  than  when  they  are  confined  for  a  long  time  in  one  place  and 
fed  on  white  man’s  food. 

2.  The  first  effect  of  a  change  to  civilized  life  is  no  doubt  to  diminish  their  numbers. 
Intercourse  with  whites  brings  in  new  diseases  that  are  very  fatal,  especially  those 
connected  with  licentious  habits.  Enriched  diet  and  confined  habits  increase  the 
fatality  of  all  their  diseases.  The  introduction  of  strong  drink  sweeps  off  many  more. 
The  very  change  produces  a  dissatisfied  state  of  mind,  which  is  unfavorable  to  fecundity 
or  long  life. 

3.  These  causes,  however,  do  not  at  all  necessarily  lead  to  their  extinction.  The 
transplanting  of  a  tree  will  certainly  retard  its  growth  for  a  time,  but,  if  it  be  placed 
in  a  better  soil,  it  may  in  the  end  more  than  regain  itself.  So  with  the  Indians.  Were 
all  deleterious  influences  cut  off,  and  the  spirit  of  a  new  life  infused  into  them,  I  have 
no  doubt  they  would  not  only  recover  from  the  change,  but  grow  more  rapidly  than 
in  their  former  state. 

The  change  among  the  Sioux  is  not  of.  sufficient  standing,  or  has  not  been  made  un¬ 
der  such  circumstances  as  to  furnish  much  evidence.  The  Santee  or  Minnesota  Sioux, 
who  have  been  under  civilizing  influences  the  longest,  were  so  broken  up  and  scattered 
by  the  massacre  of  1862  that  we  can  only  get  data  at  the  points  where  they  have  been 
since  that  time.  As  near  as  I  can  estimate  they  have  decreased  a  little  in  the  last 
fifteen  years.  They  may — I  expect  them  to — decrease  a  little  for  the  next  fifteen  years, 
perhaps  for  a  longer  time ;  then  I  expect  them  to  take  root  and  begin  to  increase.  Per¬ 
haps  the  most  civilized  band  of  the  Sioux  is  the  Flandreau  Sioux,  who  are  citizens,  and 
number  about  350.  For  the  last  four  years  I  have  kept  an  account  of  the  births  and 
deaths,  which  I  think  quite  accurate,  and  in  that  time  there  have  been  fourteen  more 
deaths  than  births,  though  the  last  two  years  the  births  have  exceeded  the  deaths. 

Yours,  very  truly, 


General  John  Eaton, 

Commissioner  of  Education. 


JOHN  P.  WILLIAMSON, 

Missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


VITAL  STATISTICS. 


From  time  to  time  the  births  and  deaths  in  a  given  period  have  been 
recorded  by  individual  observers  who  enjoyed  opportunities  for  studying 
different  tribes  or  bands;  but  these  observations  *have  been  so  limited 
as  to  time  and  the  numbers  of  the  people  studied,  and  have  been  alto¬ 
gether  so  fragmentary,  that  they  afford  no  basis  whatever  for  general 
conclusions.  While  our  official  Indian  statistics  have  been  improving 
from  year  to  year,  especially  since  1861,  they  are  still  very  imperfect  in 
many  respects;  in  none  more  so  than  in  that  relating  to  the  actual  in¬ 
crease  by  births  and  decrease  by  deaths. 

In  1874  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  present  such  statistics  in  the 


33 


* 

/ 


published  reports  of  the  Indian  Office.  Similar  Misties  were  handed,  ; 
in  the  reports  of  that  office  for  1875  and  18/0.  • 

Though  very  incomplete,  and  in  some  cases  pern.,ps  iniaccura^  those 
statistics  actually  comprise  the  only  known  date  ^ffiwhich  ap^hing  like 
a  correct  opinion  regarding  those  fluctuations^  jail  population 
which  depend  on  births  and  deaths  can  be  ^eu  ig  lfl  greatly  to  be 
regretted  that  they  are  so  imperfect;  tnat  tneyu  >  not  cover  a  i0Dger 
period,  and  that  they  do  not  include  those  tribes  i  t  the  imiiail  Territory 
which  are  farthest  advanced  toward  civiliza^Q. 

The  following  figures  are  given  trom  - 

for  the  years  1874,  1875,  and  1876:  1S 

n  t  •  'll.  .  rlnnfllC!  (in4/ 


reports  of  the  Indian  Office 
for  the  years  15/4,  ia<o,  auu  xo.u.  ^r<4,  births,  2,152;  deaths,  1,490; 
excess  of  births  over  deaths,  662.  >1875,  births,  1,985;  deaths,  1,601*; 
excess  of  births  over  deaths,  384;  1876,  births,  2,401 ;  deaths,  2,215; 
excess  of  births  over  deaths,  186. 

The  number  of  deaths  by  violence  is  reported  for  the  years  1874  and 

1875  as  follows: 


Killed  by  ^emhers  of  th^  same  tribe .  162  30 

Killed  'Y  hostile  Indians .  52  27 

Kill,  i  by  United  S^tes  soldiers .  122  30 

-  ..’fd  by  citizen? .  55  23 


Tota-1. . - . 391  110 


ii  is  not  clear  whether  all  these  deaths  by  violence  were  included  in 
tie  first  statement  above  or  not. 

According  to  the  same  reports,  the  numbers  of  Indians  that  received 
medical  treatment  were  as  follows  :  (1874)  27,553  ;  (1875)  46,594;  (1876) 
37,232. 

Any  attempt  to  deduce  ratios  from  the  preceding  figures  would  have 
yielded  obviously  false  results,  because  the  tribes  reporting  births  and 
deaths  from  year  to  year,  vary ;  and  besides,  while  some  are  reported 
each  year,  others  are  reported  but  once,  and  many  not  once,  in  the  whole 
period. 

The  reports  of  the  Indian  Office  for  the  three  years  were,  therefore, 
carefully  collated,  and  it  was  found  that  the  reports  from  a  number  of 
the  agencies  afforded  information  respecting  the  number  of  births  or 
deaths,  or  both,  during  each  of  the  three  years.  The  reported  popula¬ 
tion  on  which  the  following  statistics  for  1874  are  based  was  113,424; 
for  1875  it  was  129,789 ;  and  for  1876  it  was  105,419.  It  is  to  be  under¬ 
stood,  however,  that  the  births  or  deaths  in  the  whole  number  for  any 
year  are  not  given.  For  example,  in  1874  the  number  of  births  was  re¬ 
ported  from  agencies  comprising  48,009  of  the  113,424  ;  and  the  number 
of  deaths  was  reported  for  63,772  of  the  113,424. 

The  statistics  from  which  the  following  figures  are  derived  are  drawn 
from  the  reports  of  57  agencies  for  1874;  59  ageucies  for  1875 ;  and  58 
agencies  in  1876.  They  represent  members  of  nearly  one  hundred  tribes 
and  parts  of  tribes  in  Arizona,  California,  Colorado,  Dakota,  Idaho,  In¬ 
dian  Territory,  Kansas,  Minnesota,  Montana,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  New 
Mexico,  New  York,  Nevada,  Oregon,  Utah,  Washington  Territory,  Wis¬ 
consin,  and  Wyoming;  included  are  some  tribes  like  the  Iroquois  in 
New  York,  well  advanced  toward  civilization  and  surrounded  by  white 
settlements,  while  others  are  still  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  secluded  on  res¬ 
ervations  remote  from  white  settlements ;  in  brief,  they  represent  all  the 
conditions  and  circumstances  that  characterize  the  different  Indian  tribes 
of  the  United  States. 

3 


34 


these  exj>!anafvns  the  following  figures  are  given  : 

Bin£8  ln  48,009,'  1,495;  deaths  in  63,772,  1,047. 
V.S'i  .  in  !n  '4,41/,  1,905;  deaths  in  99,309,  1  566. 
^376.  B*ths  1Q  .81,734,  2,386;  deaths  in  90,590,  2,195. 


1874. 


1875. 

1876. 


Increase  rthg  - . 

Decrease  by  .-JS '  ths  *  — 

Excess  of  birttw  <&,.  ei  (‘<‘aths . 

Increase  by  births  . .  . 

Decrease  by  deaths. . ...  *  -  ■ — 
Excess  of  births  over  cleftta18  • 

Increase  by  births . .> 

Decrease  by  deaths . 

Excess  of  births  over  deaths.. 


44.82  in  1,000 
23.28  in  1,000 
21.54  in  1,000 
25.  59  in  1,  000 
15.  76  in  1,  000 
9.83  in  1,000 
29.  19  in  1,  000 
23.  12  in  1,  000 
6.  07  in  1,  000 


These  numbers  and  ratios  are,  not  given  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
from  them  any  general  conclusions  respecting  the  natural  tendency  of 
Indian  population  either  to  increase  or  decrease,  for  they  are  based  on 
data  much  too  imperfect  and  covering  altogether  too  brief  a  period  to 
give  them  any  value  for  that.  But  they  are  presented  to  indicate  the 
state  of  our  actual  knowledge  on  the  subject,  and  il  the  hope  tha  jimp|v 
showing  how  meager  the  stock  of  information  is,  may  resist  in  efiiciei^ 
measures  being  taken  for  its  increase. 

The  subject  may  be  dismissed  here  with  the  remark  that  whatever 
positive  evidence  the  figures  afford  is  not  in  favor  of  the  theory  of  a  rapid 
decrease  of  the  Indian  population  from  natural  causes. 


SANITARY  CONDITION  OF  THE  INDIANS. 


* 

The  value  of  the  above  statistics  would  have  been  greatly  enhanced 
had  they  been  made  to  show  the  proportion  of  deaths  from  each  disease 
that  contributed  to  the  mortality.  In  the  absence  of  such  information 
recourse  was  had  to  the  published  reports  of  the  several  agents,  a  care¬ 
ful  examination  of  which  reveals  much  of  interest  on  the  subject. 
Within  the  period  mentioned  (1874— ’76)  fifty-six  agents  have  reported 
the  sanitary  condition  of  the  Indians  under  their  charge,  and  a  number 
have  stated  the  prevailing  diseases  among  them.  These  reports  came 
from  ail  the  Territories  except  Alaska  and  Wyoming,  and  from  the  Stales 
of  California,  Colorado,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Nevada,  and  Oregon, 
and  may,  therefore,  be  assumed  to  represent  fairly  the  average  sanitary 
condition  of  all  the  Indians  in  the  United  States  except  the  civilized 
tribes  in  New  York  and  the  Indian  Territory,  from  which  no  reports  on 
these  points  were  received. 

In  1874,  of  17  agents,  9  reported  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  Indians 
under  their  charge  “good”;  1,  “  good  until  the  last  month”;  1,  “  ex¬ 
cellent”;  1  as  “fair”;  2  as  “greatly  improved”;  2  as  “improving”;  and 

1  as  “not  as  good  as  usual.” 

In  1875,  of  43  agents,  28  reported  the  health  of  the  Indians  as  “good”; 
4  as  “fair”;  3  as  “improved”;  and  8  as  “not  good.” 

In  1876,  of  24  agents,  17  reported  the  health  of  the  Indians  as  “good”; 

2  as  “  fair  ” ;  1  as  “  excellent  ” ;  1  as  “  improved  ” ;  1  as  “  not  as  good  as 
usual  ”;  and  2  as  “  not  good.” 

From  one  agency  in  Arizona,  one  in  California,  and  one  in  Nevada, 
reports  were  received  each  year;  two  showed  uniform  good  health,  and 
.  one  indicated  improvement. 

From  29  agents  reports  of  prevailing  diseases  were  received  for  one 
or  more  years.  The  list  includes  pulmonary  diseases,  resulting  from 
exposure,  reported  8  times ;  malarial  fevers,  reported  7  times ;  scrofula 
and  venereal  diseases,  reported  13  times;  rheumatism,  caused  by  expo- 


sure,  reported  6  times  ;  measles  (among  chiffw  reported  4  times ; 
alcoholic  poison  reported  once.  Small  pox,  former y  so  dreaded,  and  so 
frequent  among  the  Indians,  was  not  reported  ajnong  the  disease 
showing  that  the  measures  of  the  Indian  Office  ffi’  Jheir  vaeci* 4,11011 
have  been  efficient.  It  has,  however,  prevailed  the  P"e°l°  Di- 

dians  ot  New  Mexico  during  the  last  few  month «  V  / 

Two  agents  remark  that  the  improved  sa&cary  con/^1011  the  In¬ 
dians  under  their  charge  is  due  to  the  employment  a  regular  physi¬ 
cian  and  the  fact  that  the  Indians  have  *er<y? J  discarded  their 
“  medicine  men”  or  native  doctors;  two  otbe^^at  the  improvement  is 
due  to  the  disuse  of  spirituous  liquors  Kf  tne  Indians;  and  another 
ascribes  it  to  the  removal  of  the  troops the  vicinity  of  the  Indians. 

Space  may  be  afforded  to  present  o*w  or  two  brief'  extracts  from  the 
reports. 

Dr.  South  worth,  physician  at  the  Fort  Berthold  agency,  Dakota,  re¬ 
marks  in  his  report  for  1875  ; 

By  reference  to  the  monthly  sanitary  reports  it  will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  cases 
treated  is  steadily  decreasing,  and  compares  very  favorably  with  the  same  periods  of 
last  year,  and  is  due  to  the  absence  of  any  epidemic  visitations  of  disease,  the  better 
ac  vantages  the  Indians  enjoy,  and  the  better  food,  clothing,  and  climate  afforded  them 
tsfm  last  season.  The  proportion  of  venereal  disease  is  very  slight,  and  would  be  less 
it  more  stringent  measures  could  be  adopted  to  prevent  their  intercourse  with  the  mili¬ 
tary  and  straggling  whites.  Consumption,  and,  above  all,  scrofula  and  rheumatism 
still  find  some  victims,  but  the  vastly  improved  methods  for  providing  fuel  and  con- 
veyingThe  products  of  their  agricultural  labor,  give  promise  of  great  sanitary  benefits. 

y^The  last  sentence  of  the  above  extract  will  have  full  weight  with  every 
one  who  has  seen  the  immense  burdens  piled  on  the  backs  of  Indian 
women  in  a  savage  state. 

Agent  Siunott,  of  the  Grand  Bonde  agency,  Oregon,  in  his  fourth  an¬ 
nual  report,  dated  1875,  remarks  : 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  Indians  is  much  improved  over  former  years.  The 
number  of  births  for  the  past  year  is  in  excess  of  the  deaths;  most  of  the  deaths  hav¬ 
ing  resulted  from  chronic  diseases,  contracted  previously  to  their  present  improved 
habits  and  regularity  of  living. 

x  Dr.  Bateman,  physician  at  the  Bound  Valley  agency,  California,  re¬ 
marks  in  his  report  for  1875 : 

In  coming  here,  November,  1873,  I  found  very  many  sick.  Death  was  abroad  in  all 
the  camps  to  an  alarming  extent.  Constitutional  disease  everywhere  prevailed  and 
had  well  nigh  tainted  the  whole  mass  ;  births  were  infrequent,  and  the  enfeebled  chil¬ 
dren,  many  of  them,  were  short-lived,  not  able  to  survive  the  teething  period.  *  *  * 

For  the  eight  months  ending  June  30,  1874,  there  were  46  deaths  and  29  births.  For 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1875,  44  were  born  and  39  died.  The  encouraging  rate  of  im¬ 
provement  here  shown,  which  is  especially  marked  in  the  various  forms  and  complica¬ 
tions  of  venereal  disease,  hitherto  so  universally  prevalent,  is  mainly  due  to  the  great 
moral,  social,  and  religious  reforms  wrought  among  them.  As  a  body,  they  evince 
fidelity  to  their  Christian  and  marital  obligations,  convinced  that  moral  and  physical 
reformation  and  renovation  are  the  essential  and  only  means  of  self-preservation. 

Numerous  other  extracts  of  a  similar  character  might  be  presented 
did  space  permit.  Those  giveu,  however,  fairly  represent  the  general 
tenor  of  all. 

CONCLUSION. 

It  was  intended  to  present  here  some  facts  bearing  on  the  causes  of 
increase  or  decrease  of  Indian  populations  as  affecting  them  in  a  state 
of  savagery  or  barbarism,  and  as  they  yield  to  civilizing  influences,  but 
the  limits  of  these  notes  do  not  allow.  They  will  appear  hereafter. 

It  is  to  be  understood  that  the  statements  and  facts  presented  are  not 
brought  forward  to  attack  or  defend  any  theory  whatever;  nor  are  they 


Emitted  as  by  any  means  conclusive  evidence  on  the  subject  to  which 
they  relate.  But  it  is  hoped  that,  by  bringing  them  to  the  notice  of 
-  "netent  o\>«erver^  enough  other  facts  may  be  obtained  to  warraut  a 

genets]  cone!  "*k ^respecting  the  influence  of  civilization  upon  the  In¬ 
dian  popviati|)n.|/ 

It  may  no.M  impcBnent  for  the  writer  to  observe  that  the  above 
and  a  multitude  >ther  acts  that  have  come  to  bis  knowledge  during 
several  years  ot  su.  dy  of  the  question  of  Indian  civilization  have  con¬ 
vinced  him  that  the  uau  theory  that  the  Indian  population  is  destined 
to  decline  and  anally  disurr>ear,  as  a  result  of  contact  with  white  civil¬ 
ization,  mast  be  greatly  moe-qe^  probably  abandoned  altogether. 


Bureau  of  Education, 

November  24,  1877. 


V 

V 


S.  N.  OLABK. 


f 


